Growing Pains
by Ember411
Summary: Struggling with her eating disorder for years, can Marley learn to accept her changing body? MarleyxRyder / Ryley fic.
1. Illness feelings

**Hey guys, long time no speak right?**

**In one of my classes at my high school I take a childcare course. We did a small subject, that lasted for about three weeks, about growing pregnancy and the effects— commonly emotionally and some physical (gaining weight, bloating, ect). PLUS I helped my friend with a project for his health class on the effects of eating disorders and the human body. Eventually through various of articles he and I read about _eating disorders_ while _pregnant._**

**I hope this story turns out pretty good. I'm sure I've learned enough information to make everything as accurate as possible. I won't make it too too bad, but close enough to the real thing.**

**Rated T for Eating Disorder.**

* * *

Sixteen years passed quickly.

Marley Rose had graduated with a high honor roll of her class, was accepted to her top school (with support of Will, Emma, Unique, Santana, Brittney, Blaine, Joe, Jake and Ryder), with a free ride all four years. She graduate third in line at her college graduation. With this she was offered many local jobs, but she decided on the local radio station back home in Lima. Soon after moving back to Lima she and her boyfriend moved into a house with whatever money they could put together, a medium size one with four bedrooms, two bathrooms with a small kitchen connected to the living room, a basement divided in threes—laundry and two extra spaces, and a backyard.

The two lived together there, already being engaged, and at the age of twenty-three, Marley was married. She was now Mrs. Marley Lynn, wife of Mr. Ryder Lynn.

For first three years, the two had put off with having children. Well, almost. Human children they put off but Marley begged and begged and begged Ryder to adopt two little puppies that were a few weeks old. Both of them were a Siberian husky-border collie mix, a male and a female. After four weeks of the begging Ryder gave in to Marley's puppy faces.

The two soon became four, with Ollie and Odette joining the Lynn family. The love around the family was amazing.

Three weeks since the pups joined the family Marley fell ill. Vomiting, clammy hands and always cold in the summer weather. She wore sweaters and long pants when the weather was in the nineties. She felt weak most days and other days felt miserable. By the fifth day she went to the doctors for a check up. Usually she loathed the doctors; every time she went she would have to be weighed. Usually she stepped on the scale backwards, facing away from the weight numbers and she knew she usually stayed the same weight, but sometimes she worried that the numbers would go up and Ryder wouldn't like her a much.

She's dealt with that for her entire life, almost. When high school began freshmen year she weighted a lot, about five pounds over the normal weight she was suppose to be. She lost the weight by exercising and eating good, but eventually she stopped eating healthy and working out and, somehow, didn't gain a lot or less. She stayed the same. But soon moving to Lima and going to William McKingly High she became bulimic and stopped eating. When the chance came she wouldn't eat, but when forced to eat than she vomit it later.

She suffered all four years of high school, even with professional help, and college was _worse_. Almost never eating when she was suppose, her use of laxatives increased, she never went to the support group therapy like she promised Ryder she would. It wasn't until junior year she was so low at weight she was told she was almost at the point of being placed in a coma. Marley got the help she was suppose to get. She still struggled, years later still, but slowly she was getting healthier.

About a week passed since the doctors. It was night time and Ryder had just come back from walking the pups outside in the backyard. He had night shift, Marley had morning shifts and whoever was home in the afternoon took them out in the afternoon. Ryder was finishing up a shower upstairs whilst Marley was on the couch watching an episode of her favorite television show. Ryder walked in, minutes later in a t-shirt and pajama boxer shorts, holding Ollie in his arms.

"This guy refuses to pee outside. He prefers to pee in my sock drawer." Ryder laughed.

"Keep the drawer shut and he won't." Marley laughed.

"I did." He said. "Are you wearing my fuzzy socks again?"

Marley glanced down at her feet and found the fuzzy Christmas socks Ryder's grandmother had knitted for him. She turned back with a grin as Ryder set Ollie down near Odette. "Maybe."

"Sock theft." Ryder said, noticing that she was in a cap sleeve, knee length cotton nightgown. "You're actually in summer related clothes?" He jokingly said in surprise.

"Sure." Marley said, sitting up from the couch as Ryder joined her on the couch and rested his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair and watched as he began to grin bigger than before.

"I love when you do that." He whispered.

"I know." She leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"You feeling better?" Ryder asked, playing with her hair by twisting it in his fingers. Usually she didn't mind this, but most times she didn't want him twisting the ends of her hair. "Doctors tomorrow?"

"Yes." Marley said depressingly.

"I'll come with you." Ryder said, sitting up. "I've got tomorrow off."

"You don't have too though," Marley said with a small smile. "I'll be fine. The only thing I'm worried about is my weight... I've been eating a lot for the past few days and I'm worried—"

"Shh," Ryder held both her hands in his, firmly gripping them. "Marley you're fine. I promise you, you're stunning." He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I love you Marley. I just want you blissful and healthy."

Marley smiled, leaning in and resting her head on his shoulders. She slowly drifted off to sleep as Ryder hummed a random song to her. She hoped that she didn't gain too much weight. She currently weight one hundred seven pounds. Her doctor advised her to get to at least one twenty.

* * *

**That's the first chapter for now. I hope y'all like it.**

**Sequel Update for _Let My Love Open The Door, Marley_: I'm sorry for not uploading it so soon. I actually went back to edit a lot of things, and I'm currently still editing the story. So I'll finish editing as soon as possible and upload as soon as possible.**

**Read and review.**

**~ Ember411**


	2. Doctors, Oh Joy!

**Thanks so much for the review _Guest_ and _iheartart13_ ! You guys are so amazing and nice (and those who are following too!)**

**Rated T for Eating Disorder.**

* * *

Marley woke around four several hours later. Her stomach growled for food and she felt something inside of her wanting to come out. She got out of bed, knowing that Ryder carried her up there hours earlier, and went down the stairs to puke. She sometimes felt that if she puke this natural puke near Ryder, than Ryder might think he's forcing herself. So usually she try to hold it or go into another room.

In the downstairs bathroom Marley vomited for several seconds. She wiped her mouth, flushed and washed her hands. She faced up and found herself glancing at her frail face; pale with what looked like bruises around her eyes even though they weren't bruises. Her hair was messy and thin, almost as frail as her face. She glanced down at her wrist and fingers, both were frail and almost could see the bones, but also kind of swelling.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and imagined she was at the ocean. She started to remember all the times her mother told her to stop whatever she was doing if she felt sick or wanted to vomit, take a deep breath, close her blue-gray eyes and start to remember a memory. It took Marley a few minutes to think of a memory, but she thought of one.

It was from when she was little. She was seven years old, wearing a beautiful dress, singing a song. She knew the song as it was her favorite song that she's ever heard; _You Are My Sunshine_. Her father use to sing it all the time to her when she was younger. She'd dance with him all the time in the middle of the living her old house living room, the home before Lima, and listen to her father sing the song to her. She always had the dream of dancing with him at her wedding to that song as the father-daughter dance. But her father stopped communication with her when she was nine.

Her mother told her that her father was having issues with his personal life and needed time alone. And by alone her father was at some home for people who have social-type problems. From ages nine until last year she never spoke to her father. Nickolas Amos Rose has passed away a year before Marley and Ryder got married. Though in his will there was a letter from him. Marley never read it though. She'd be heart broken.

For several seconds as she sang the song out loud she had her eyes closed and remembered all the peaceful memories she had with her father in her childhood before the age of nine. She shed a few tears a few times as her vision of her father went away, but she pulled herself together and wiped away her tears. She sniffled before leaving the bathrooms.

It was in between nautical dawn and civil dawn. Nautical dawn the time of the morning when there is some sunlight at the horizon for some objects to be distinguishable and civil dawn was when all objects could be distinguished. Marley stepped outside in a pair of sweat pants, a sweater and stepped outside with the pups for their morning bathroom walk. She strolled to the middle of the grass and sat down on the bench as she watched the pups sniff around, pee and poop and chase one another around.

Call it a feminine thing, but Marley had a slight idea on what was wrong with her. Vomiting in the morning, afternoon and night, fatigue, hungry a lot, went to the bathroom constantly, felt achy in her body, certain areas of her body felt tender and hurt when touched or brushed against (something that Ryder's done a few times as he hugged Marley and would receiving a dirty look from Marley or a screech of pain from her) and of course the most common sign: She's about three weeks late.

* * *

About an hour of resting outside, without evening noticing that she had been outside for that long, Marley scooped up the pups and returned inside to find eating a bowl of cereal whilst standing up. He gave a nod, her way of greeting her with a mouth full. Marley waved and sat down next to him.

"Early bird." He said with a smile. "I can never wake up as early as you."

"I love going to sleep late and waking up early." She answered. "Compared to when I was in high school. I loathed waking up school days and non-school days. I was cranky."

"You still are most days." He said. "You feeling better?"

"Hmmm." Marley shrugged her shoulders as she positioned herself to place elbows on the counter and her face in her hands. "Not so good."

"Blueberry yogurt smoothie?" Ryder asked. "I'm getting better at those."

"Oh sure. Last time I heard that, I came back to find a messy kitchen and two messy guys—you and Jake. Both of you pointing at the other and blaming one another."

"It was Jake's idea. Honestly." Ryder lied, knowing full well that it was his idea. "He wanted a banana smoothie."

"I'm not thirsty-hungry. I'll just make toast." She said, getting up. She stood up a bit to quickly and held a hand to her forehead, feeling a bit dizzy. She sat down a second later. "Not hungry."

"Don't worry I've got it covered Marley." Ryder said, taking one last bite of his cereal and grabbed the bread from the fridge. "I love making food."

"Says the one who made a mess in the kitchen last week." Marley laughed. "I hate the doctors..."

"Me too. Actually," Ryder leaned back on a chair and looked up at the ceiling. "I hate hospitals. They're just kind of creepy and freak me out. I hate when people I care about are in hospitals... I even hate the dead body file cabinet."

"The dead body file cabinet?" Marley asked, startled. "What's that?"

"Just as the title says. They store away the dead bodies—commonly those that have no ID— and store them away in this file cabinet for the size of humans. Usually these are in some sort of closet. I've seen them on television and movies all the time. It's scary but funny because they scream. Once I saw this movie and this big, bulky, macho, mega stud guy screeched like a five year old girl."

"Oh cheese and crackers," Marley laughed. A second later Ryder placed in front of her a plate with burned pieces of toast. The duet of them glared at them for a few mere seconds until Marley laughed once more. "In the words of Gordon Ramsey 'Not everyone can be a bloody chef!'"

"I'm awesome. Ramsey be jealous of my skills. I'll make a bloody cake on his birthday next year."

Two fresh pieces of toast and a glass of milk later, Marley was in the shower getting ready for the day. She felt nauseous all over her aching body. The world around her was spinning swiftly and she felt like she had to sit down for a few minutes. Which she did. Facing away from the shower, she sat down and let the water droplets beat her back. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to relax. But she felt nauseous continue.

She thought for a second. She was in the middle of a shower, a shower that was making loud noise. So Ryder wouldn't expect a thing or would he walk in on her (he only did once and only because he had to pee badly and the other toilet was broken). She knew that the other toilet was fixed so Ryder wouldn't come inside the bathroom.

She got onto her knees, her back still facing the shower, and placed both her index finger and her middle finger inside her mouth, towards the back, and shoved them in the back of her throat. She wasn't knew to this at all. She's been doing this for about five months now.

It was June now, but in the recent December Marley had gained a bit of weight; commonly from Ryder's birthday, holiday parties and more. In February on the fifth Marley woke up in the middle of the night and sneaked down the stairs to force herself to puke. Because it had been about a year or two since she last forced herself, it was an odd feeling. Like the first time at Kitty's slumber party. But three weeks into puking it felt like a normal activity for Marley.

Marley's been in group therapy for this and she was getting the help, but sometimes she still felt fat and wanted to just puke a few times. This was the first time in five months that she's forced herself to vomit. Ryder wouldn't suspect it one bit.

Second later she vomited out her toast and milk, but she still felt a bit sick to her stomach. You know how when you puke, because your sick or (Heaven forbid) you force yourself, your nose has that weird feeling? It feels like either puke is coming out of your nose, or hot steam is coming out of your nose? Marley had that feeling right now with her nose. She sniffled just a tad bit, stood up and finished her shower.

* * *

A few hours later Marley felt kind of better, but still sick to her stomach. She fell asleep as few times on the bus ride to the doctors, leaning against Ryder's shoulder and listening to the music on her I-pod. Fifteen stops later Ryder woke her up for their stop, held her hand as the got off, and continued to hold it as they walked down the street to the doctors.

Inside the chatty clinic office, Marley sat down at a chair and Ryder went up to the front desk to check in. She crossed her arms over her stomach, feeling drowsy and hungry and thirsty and craving...anything at the moment. A bowl of dirty was wonderful of her mind... dirt? Marley laughed to herself.

"What's funny on your mind?" Ryder asked sitting next to her.

"My cravings." She said. "I'm so hungry."

"We'll go where ever you want after this. I promise." Ryder said handing her a clipboard. "Answer these questions for the doctor."

Marley did so. One of the questions, though, asked if she had any personal medical problems (i.e depression, sleep problems, eating disorders, heart problems, ect). She hesitated for a minute. She knew what she had to write, but she didn't want to write it. She didn't like how doctors wanted to know so much.

"Marley, the doctor will see you now." A voice called out.

Marley nodded as she wrote down her answer, without even thinking of her answer.

Marley went inside by herself. Inside the office Marley's height was taken and her weight. Once she stepped off the scale she went sent to a room and asked to put a nightgown on. She did and minutes later the doctor, Dr. Lavery, came in.

"Hi Marley, how you feeling?" She asked, writing stuff down.

"Um, okay?" Marley asked, nervous. _I hate doctors! __I hate doctors! __I hate doctors and I hate being weighed!_

"Well that's good." Dr. Lavery said. "You're height is normal, five feet and eight inches, and you're weight—"

"I know! I know!" Marley said rapidly, attempting to avoid the conversation. "I'm getting help with that. I've been going to group therapy for a few years and I'm getting better. Slowly, but getting there." She kind of lied and told the truth.

Dr. Lavery just wrote on the clipboard. "Marley when was your last menstruation?"

She blushed bright red and thought for a few minutes. Marley knew that she currently weight around eighty pounds. She knew she had to weight at least one hundred to start her menstruation, knowing from her past ones. But because of her condition she usually didn't have one or it changed every month; beginning, middle, end. Whatever it was. After a few seconds Marley answered. "Last that I remembered was, maybe, around two months ago."

"Are they regular?"

"Hmmm." Marley answered, blushing again. "It changes its weeks or I don't get one at all. Lately I've haven't had mine."

"You've been feeling sick?" Dr. Lavery asked.

About five minutes and a round of twenty questions later, Dr. Lavery had asked Marley to go to the bathroom and urinate in a cup. Marley never understood why doctors made people urinate in in cups. She went to the bathroom, urinated, and handed the yellow-green cup container to Dr. Lavery.

* * *

Marley got re-dressed into her clothes and sat in the room. A knock was at the door and a second later Ryder walked in, eyes cover, and stepped in a bit. "Eyes closed I promise."

"I'm dressed." She said, wearily.

"Feel better?" Ryder asked as he sat down next to her. He took told of her hand. Cold, frail and very weak. Almost bony too, but Ryder knew that she was slowly getting better. "Everything's okay?"

"As far as I know? Yes." She said.

"How's your weight? Is it—"

"I don't know the number, but she told me that I weigh more than the last time I did two months ago." Marley cut him off. "Remember last week when I asked Wilson if he could write down my weight on a paper? I showed her the number, without looking, and she says I've gained weight by then. A few pounds, but better than nothing."

Ryder gave a small smile and leaned in to give her a kiss on her head. "I love you."

Minutes later Dr. Lavery returned minutes later, holding the same clipboard as she did before. She was writing a few things on the clipboard. Nobody spoke a word. Marley, who head was spinning a little bit, rested her head on Ryder's head, as Ryder rested his head a little above hers.

"So is everything okay with Marley?" Ryder questioned, wanting to get answers and leave as soon as possible.

"As good as it can be in this situation." Dr. Lavery said. "Congratulations Marley. You're pregnant."

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**Woot! And that is where I end for now.**

**Read and review please and thank you **

**:)**


	3. The Future and Promises

**Thanks so much for the review _Guest, TotalGleek16, Emma Shea._ and _iheartart13_ ! You guys are so amazing and nice (and those who are following too!)**

**FOLLOWERS: Can you PLEASE leave a review for me, so that i know how the story is going so far? Thanks followers!**

**Rated T for Eating Disorder.**

**_Author Note:_ So in another Glee story of mine, someone told me in a review to go and listen told a specific song. It's a love song, but I forgot the name of it! I think the word "planes" was in the lyrics, pretty sure it was, but can't remember! If you would be so kind enough to, please, tell me again the name of the song; I'll love you forever!**

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Marley and Ryder stared at Dr. Lavery for a few mere seconds. That one simple word had millions of thoughts running through their individual minds. Both positive thoughts and negative thoughts.

Marley, who had a few water works in her eyes, couldn't believe it was true. "I-I'm pregnant?"

"Indeed," Dr. Lavery smiled. "About two months almost, due in January."

Marley just sat there, still in shock. She was sure that she would never become pregnant because of her very low weight, her unnatural menstruation situation and her diet in general. She couldn't believe she would be carrying a baby inside of her at the very moment. For the past two months she's been carrying a child that Ryder and her created.

Ryder simply had no words. All he did was grin and hug Marley. "Marley we're having a baby!"

Dr. Lavery coughed, for their attention. "Now Marley, you know you weigh—"

Marley covered her heads, shaking her head, and said "I don't want to know!"

Dr. Lavery gave a puzzled expression to Ryder, who simply answered. "She hates the numbers, just say up or down."

Dr. Lavery nodded, "Low." She said loud enough for Marley to hear. "And as one may know, your condition and pregnancy are, well, not a good combination together. So I want to make an appointment every two weeks to see the progress of the pregnancy. Your in a support group, you said earlier?" Marley nodded. "I'll just need to know the name of the sponsor and the meeting location."

Marley answered, after spacing out for a few minutes, then went back to spacing out again.

* * *

It wasn't until when Marley and Ryder stopped by an ice cream shop for a sundae that Marley actually grasped the reality of her becoming a mother. A baby who's cried when they wanted Marley to comfort them. A baby who would see Marley and Ryder and instantly become attached to them. A baby who's blood was a mix of Rose blood and Lynn blood. A baby who turn to a toddler, and that toddler would toddle around and walk into Marley's arm when it took their first few steps. A toddler who'd turn into a child.

A little child to call of her own. A little child who'd call Marley Mama and Mommy. A little child who'd hug and love Marley for the same reasons Ryder did—love for love and not for the looks. A little child who be intelligent, independent and loving person for all humans, animals and the environment And possibly be as great as Marley and Ryder in the arts department. But if not and instead was fantastic in the sports department, Marley would just be as proud. Anything her son or daughter did would make Marley proud.

If born a girl, she would have tea parties with Marley with all the kings and queens of the world, with rainbow cupcakes and cookies with fabulous tea, served in the most enchanting tea set that she had bought from an elegant place that she traveled to in the most finest boats in all the world. _A bit over dramatic, but cute!_ She thought to herself.

If born a boy, she'd teach him the sport of tennis, baseball and basketball. Calling herself the wallflower, but Marley did play tennis, baseball and basketball. She thanked her father for that, as she was the first born of his (Marley had learned a few years ago that whilst separated from her and her mother Nickolas had fathered at least five boys—Melvin, Max, Marvin, Martin and Mortimer Rose). Anyways Marley knew the sports and played them a few times, usually throwing hoops by herself, hitting the ball with the bat as it sits on a stand thing (like how little kids first learn to play the game) and hitting the tennis ball against the wall.

Whatever she had Marley be more blissful than she ever could be in her life. The doctors office had given her a book entitled _Pregnorexia— Your pregnancy and anorexia _as well as various of pamphlets that discussed eating disorders and pregnancy. She read only one while she waited for Ryder to return with her sundae and water bottle, but she skimmed through most of it. She was craving food, and Ryder wasn't close to returning with the food... he just got to the front of the line and they've been here fore twenty minutes.

Marley, sitting outside near the garden patch of roses and violets and other floral plants, couldn't help herself any longer. She scooped up a small handful of the dirt, glared at it for a few seconds, glanced to make sure that nobody around her was looking at her. She used her free hand to take a few pieces of the soil and made sure no worm or bug was in the dirt. None was, good. She leaned forward and took a small bite of the dirt. It taste...delicious! It was like the that perfect desert that you've always dreamed of with all the perfect ingredients added to make it special. Marley, feeling this and the hunger of two stomach's, placed the rest of it in her mouth and swallowed, taking a few sips of water afterwards.

It was dazzling and delicious and Marley, strangely, found it satisfying. It wasnt' however, until she noticed Ryder standing there and staring at her with a confused expression written on his face. "What?" She asked, suddenly embarassed

"I've heard stories where women crave natural made products, like chalk and dirt and soap, but never had I met one in my life." He said, but smiled as he placed the large sundae bowl in between their seats. "You going to eat this or not?"

"Yeah." Marley said and took the spoon. She dipped her spoon into the sundae, lifted a large spoonful and placed it in her mouth. She placed it inside her mouth and fell more in love with this taste than she did with the dirt earlier. "Hmmm, this is so good."

"Only the best for a new life." Ryder said, taking his own bite. "So when we due again?"

"In January, I assume after New Years." Marley said. "She said I'm only two months."

"New Year for changes!" Ryder announced in cheer. "Family time!"

"Okay, now you're way too over excited!" Marley laughed. "I'd wish my Mom was here too see this." Her voice got low as she lost all of her current thoughts and kept focus on her mother.

Millie Rose passed away from a heart attack during Marley's sophomore year. Marley had come back to Lima the following week (due to stupid airports being their usual stupid self) and stayed in her childhood home for two months, depressed, until she had to go back. Millie meant everything to Marley. Her mother gave her the biggest support for her dreams. She always gave Marley the confidence to sing. "You've got magic in your throat, Marley." It was after her mother's heart attack, caused mainly by her weight, that Marley had lost her sanity to keep eating and refused to eat a lot. It took about two months to get Marley to eat again. And even by then she still ate small pieces.

Ryder, sensing Marley's emotions at the minute, held her free hand with his free hand. "She's watching."

Marley smiled cheekily at Ryder. "You think?"

"Yep." Ryder said. "Same with Dad. He's watching you, and kicking my ass."

"What?"

"Home by myself, I felt a hard kick in my butt region, and knew it wasn't you. This was after you and I got into that argument over when I thought you were...you know... again, but denied the truth." Ryder smiled. "I only believed you after I got that kick from your Dad. It was a manly boot that kicked me."

"Okay, now you imagining this Ryder." Marley laughed.

* * *

Half an hour later back home Marley was laying on the couch humming songs to herself, the sleeping pups in their bedding and little Lynn baby inside of her. Call it mother's institution but Marley felt that the little child inside of her was enjoying it's mother magical music.

"You've got magic in you're throat, Marley." Marley repeated, looking up at the ceiling. "Mom? Dad? Thank you. Thank you for letting me become pregnant, I promise I'm going to try as hard as I can to keep them inside and healthy inside of me. I promise I'm going to carrying them as far as I can, please let me carrying them to full term or at least close enough for a chance to survive and be healthy."

Marley gazed down at her torso. She was still thin, but she knew in a few weeks her belly would get bigger. She happily rubbed her torso area. "I promise honey, I'm going to try and stay healthy for you. I promise I'll carry you as far as I can, I'll carry you as far as Nana Millie and Papa Nickolas and The Angels let me; and I want them to let me have you when you're ready, not me or Daddy, when _you're_ ready to join Daddy and I in this world. I know the world out here isn't perfect as you think, and when you're little you think it is. But as soon as you get into the high school age, everything changes and you realize this world isn't as perfect as you thought it be. I promise I'll try to keep my... problem under control." Marley's voice got a little weak as she thought of her next words.

"Honey, whether your a son or daughter, I promise this. I promise to get better for you, so that you don't always have a sick mother. A mother who's live is at rehab or in a hospital because she didn't eat her bagel that morning or she ate tiny pieces of her already cut up food. I promise I won't take any sort of pills that I usually took for the past several months, to help me keep my weight down. Honey, I promise that whether you're a son or daughter, I will try to keep you from having the problem I have now. Seeing myself everyday and feeling...disgusting with yourself... and forcing yourself to have the perfect image that fellow people place on you. Luckily enough you'll find someone like Daddy, who'll love you no matter what. That's Daddy and I's job too. We'll always love you no matter what you look like. I love you."

Marley smiled as she kept rubbing her belly. She knew the child didn't hear her, but she imagined that it could understand her words. Marley Rose-Lynn had just made a promise. She made several promises, she was going to keep them. She quickly grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down her promises, and decided look at them every morning before she got out of bed.

_I, Marley Elizabeth Rose-Lynn, promise my unborn baby the following promises as of now, June._

_I promise to carry them as long as I can._

_I promise to stop my eating disorder, even more than I already basically had. (I will no longer force vomit, take diet pills, or refuse a meal when I know I am hungry._

_I promise to let Ryder help me whenever he wants too and when I need so._

_I promise stay healthy after I had my baby._

_I promise to let them live a lovely life and enjoy with with no negatives in life._

_I promise that if I fail at any of these, to keep at least 1 of them and work towards the goal. (if my first promise is broken than I will work harder to get better so that the next child I have, if I can have children, will actually make it to the world outside of my womb)._

Marley folded the paper after signing her name and placed it inside her pocket. She then fell asleep on the couch and dreamed of the little baby she'd be seeing in a few months.

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**Well there we go. I hope you enjoyed it. Took me three days to write this thing!**

**Read and review, thank you.**

**~ Ember411**


	4. A Wedding and A Terrible Beginning pt 1

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, I'm really enjoying this story and writing it. And thanks for those who are reviewing and following (though I wish the followers would review this, because if they're following it than I'd like to know what they like about it, y'know?**

**Warning! The wedding couples are the couples _I_ like together, so if any of the pairs I put together you don't support, please ignore it and don't leave a mean comment :(**

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**IMPORTANT****! I found a video on youtube that Melissa Benoist is in. She and Sarah Hyland singing _Freedom _from the musical_ The Unauthorized Autobiography Of Samantha Brown. _It's a funny video and Melissa's character Kelly is so funny. (she's like the opposite of Marley on Glee) I'm so addictive to the song because it's so DAMN FUNNY!**

**Watch it and let me know in a review what you think (either this chapter OR the next, doesn't matter!)**

**tehe. Well enjoy this LONG chapter :)**

* * *

Two weeks had passed. Marley didn't vomit as much anymore. Well, that is, she didn't vomit because of the pregnancy anymore. She did continue to stick her fingers in her throat when possible. She's doing everything she can to make sure that she gains baby weight for her and Ryder's little baby, but not enough so that she would actually gain weight and that weight she would gain would take forever to lose. She didn't want to gain so much and never lose it. She wished most days that she was a celebrity and would gain all the weight she would get, and lose it in five weeks.

But she knew better. She knew that was impossible to lose so much, rich or poor in wealth. She knew only real celebrities took five months or seven to lose baby weight, and those who had less were crazy and either didn't eat, like Marian Dianna the model, or they would over exercise, like singer Delia Shearstone or get liposuction like Dallas Griffin, the actress. It's impossible unless you do something like that.

She kind of felt like she was Marian and Delia, but not so much. She would go back to as normal as possible when her baby was born.

During those two weeks Marley went out on early morning jogs. She hates running or jogging, but she wanted to keep at fit as possible. She'd wake up every morning at four and jog down the street and back several times until it was five thirty, than she'd return home and shower for the rest of her day. At first Ryder a bit concerned, as he knew her specific eating disorder and pregnancy wasn't a perfect match. He had even woke up as early as her one morning, almost. She was already in the middle of her jog and had returned back to the front of the house and was about to turn around until she had stopped her.

"Marley stop," Ryder grasped her wrist and stopped her. Marley took her headphones off and turned to him. "Marley why are you waking this early and jogging?"

"I want to stay fit," Marley said. "I've... I've seen and heard stories where they stay fit when pregnant and the baby is healthier."

"Marley are you sure this isn't some way of—"

"No!" Marley snapped, a little annoyed by his sudden idea. _Why would that even be on his mind in the first place? I'm perfectly fine. I'm eating for the baby, and I'm not force vomiting myself until half an hour after I ate. And I'm not taking any type of pills that could harm the baby._ "I'm fine, I promise."

"You sure?" He asked.

"Honest," She leaned in and gave him a peck. "Just gonna finish the last one and I'm done."

"Oh good because if you hurt yourself in anyway than Santana and Brittany, probably more Santana, would throw a fit." He laughed.

Marley glared at him for several minutes, perplexed at his comment. "Brittany and Santana?"

...

"The wedding, remember? It's today."

Marley slapped her face, totally forgetting about the wedding. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! I totally forgot about the wedding! Oh goodness everything the past three weeks or so have been killing me."

"Well if I were a woman who just learned she was pregnant I'd probably forget about everything else too. Aren't you lucky I'm around for you, Miss Artificial Insemination?" He laughed.

Marley too laughed, but inside she worried. The last time she got her fitting was six months ago, why there was no recent checkings was commonly caused by everyone in the (girl) party being busy or the store hours didn't fit in to the free time. Between then and now, who knows how much she weighed. And the last time she looked in the full body mirror, about two weeks ago, she had a tiny baby bump showing; she's refused to look in a mirror since then.

She finished her jog twenty minutes later and got back. Ryder was in the middle of getting dressed when she got back. Marley went into the bathroom and waited for the shower to warm up. As she did she got undressed and by the time she was in her undergarments, she forced herself to look down. Her baby belly, not exactly three months—but close enough to be three months (or maybe it was and Marley just didn't know that she was)—was sticking out. It looked almost noticeable, but not a lot totally, but kind of was.

She glared down at the belly, even during the shower she was glaring down. To her, her belly seemed huge. Like an oversize circus tent, with clowns ready to burst out of her stomach to sing a jolly song about her huge belly. Before she even turned the water off, she got to her knees and vomited and shoved her fingers down her throat, until whatever was in her belly came back up.

Five minutes later she was back in her bedroom and began to dig through the back of a closet she rarely used at all until she found the dress. A strapless royal blue dress with a sheer, black floral lace layer over the bottom half, with a black sash over the waistline. Luckily for Marley, Brittney's Aunt Abigail was paying for the bridesmaid dresses. The only two things Marley had to buy were the black five inch heels with the heel a sparkly blue and flower bouquet that Santana picked out. Both of which, cost her her two paychecks from work (a rather crappy one for now) and borrowing money from Ryder.

She glared at the dress for a few minutes, her mind worrying if she'd fit in the dress or not. She hoped she would be able to fit into the dress, not wanting Abigail to feel guilty for the problem... that's not even her problem. She stared at the dress for a few mere moments before deciding to wait a bit more. At least, she wanted to wait. But she knew there was no time.

It was already seven in the morning. Those participating in the wedding had to be there around eight for final preparations (hair, makeup, ect). Marley eventually took a deep breath and began to get the dress on. _It's only been six months. Until I got pregnant I've been the same weight, so maybe I didn't gain too much weight from the pregnancy._

_Okay, I've got them over my legs, now I just need to pull it up...there we go Marley, slowly... don't go too fast. Oh.. we're so close... shi—_

Marley stopped in her movement, her breathing slow and her eyes full of water works. She decided to take another breath as she took a small mental break and try again in a few minutes.

She tried again, but the space area between her growing belly and where the dress torso was was beginning to be a bit tight. Marley didn't enjoy the feeling, it reminded her back when she did _Grease!_ in high school and every week Kitty would make the dress smaller so that Marley would think she's fat. Marley stopped again, took another deep breath, and wanted to try once more.

She tried and got it over her, but she felt a bit uncomfortable. She moved the dress down a little bit so that she could breath. She turned the dress over and looked at the size of the dress. She was trying to remember the size she was when she first got the dress fitting six months ago, and three months before that.

00

Double zero. Of course, Marley's favorite and least favorite number.

_Shi— I've grown some more, way more!_

"Damn it!" Marley threw the dress on the ground, grabbed the side of her head and began to rub her head with her hands as she tried to relax. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! This dress won't fit on me, unless I take a huge deep breath and hold it for over eleven hours!" Marley took several breaths before glaring down.

She rubbed her baby belly. "Don't worry baby, it's not your fault." She smiled warmly, almost cradling her baby belly like a real baby. "You just keep growing inside, baby. I'll deal with the physical world."

A second Marley heard a knock on the door. "Britt just called, she needs you bridesmaids there now-ish."

"Um... okay, hold on." Marley said, lifting her dress up again. She took a deep breath, lifted her dress up again. What was different though now, other than the deep breath, was that she didn't feel the tightness anymore. _Okay, just stressful bloating. Just relax..._ She let go of all her breath. She still felt a little tight in her torso area, but she told herself that she'd manage.

* * *

Several hours later, or however it felt to Marley, the bridesmaids were in the back getting ready to walk down the wedding path, the path that both Santana's father and Brittney's father would escort both their daughters at the same time since neither of the brides were willing to wear a tuxedo, or anything like that, on a wedding day. Marley sat in the corner, deeply thinking her her body situation now. Not just her weight, but her dress pressing against her body tightly.

_ I hope I'm not crushing them..._ She shifted her eyes down below and thought aloud in her mind. _Baby? I hope you can hear me. I'm sorry if I'm crushing you honey, I promise I'll go to the bathroom once in a while to take this dress off and let both of us breath. I'm not an expert of baby movement or anything but I'm going to try and understand what you want right now for the next several hours._

"Marley?"

Marley glared up and found Finn kneeling beside her, Mike and Joe behind him.

"You okay?" Finn asked again.

Marley nodded and put a smile on. "Yeah, great."

"Okay. Wedding march is gonna start soon."

"Okay." Marley said getting up and joining the rest of them. Marley and Joe were walking down together, Finn and Rachel, Kurt and Blaine, Mike and Tina, Artie and Betty, Rory and Sugar, a few of the Cheerio's cheerleaders with their boys and some relatives. At least 24 couples stood in line.

The group got in line ahead of the two brides. Marley and Joe were fifteenth in the large line. As Marley stood and waited her turn to walk down the path of marriage, her mind began to go dizzy all over again. She wasn't going to faint, but she wanted to sit for ten minutes or more.

"You okay?" Joe asked, still looking forward but leaning towards her. "Do you want to go to the back and wait a bit?"

"No.. I'm okay." Marley reassured him. _Just keep focus and try not to think of anything... Baby, I'll go to the bathroom after this, I promise. Just told a little bit more._

**TWO HOURS LATER!**

This wedding was like an episode of Four Weddings, Marley had watched once at Unique's house. In a traditional wedding it's the brides priest to marry the couple, unless otherwise arrangement's were changed, and the priest took forever. Two hours at the alter, and the guy was speaking Greek. Marley laughed, remember her own wedding day when the priest was ten minutes late because there was a funeral car line stuck in traffic because of a car accident, that was caused by a turtle crossing the road.

Two hours later, after the two lovely brides left for the reception. Marley and Ryder were almost set to leave until Marley said she was going to the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, Marley took most of the dress off and took some breath. She then stuck her fingers down her throat a few times. Once done, she lifted herself up and got the dress back on. Several more hours.

* * *

**Alright, that's it for now. I'll upload part two in a few days. Otherwise this be WAY TOO LONG to read, haha. Plus it means more chapters than I originally had!**

**Read and review.**


	5. A Wedding and A Terrible Beginning pt 2

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, I'm really enjoying this story and writing it. And thanks for those who are reviewing and following!**

* * *

At the reception party, Marley and the other 20 plus bridesmaids and groomsmen walked in before Britney and Santana. Marley still felt a bit dizzy, even as Joe and her walked in.

"You sure your okay " joe asked her for the one hundredth time.

"Fine." Marley answered him for the one hundredth time.

"Well I can say this, your pretty radiant tonight."

Marley didn't know if he was calling her pretty or if he was referencing the pregnancy glow. Then she realized that he didn't know about the pregnancy and therefore was calling her beautiful.

She sat down several minutes later, in the back table in an empty corner. She held her head as she leaned down and had her head between her legs, trying to relax.

"Hey beautiful," That familiar voice called out. "How you doing?"

"Hmmmm." Was all she could answer "Not good Ryder."

Ryder, a bit concerned, kneeled next to her and rub her knee cap. "What's wrong? Need anything?"

"No, I'm okay. I'm just a bit tired from standing two hours... Just give me half an hour and I'll be okay."

Ryder smiled, kissed the side of her cheek and said "okay. I'm just gonna grab a snack, want anything?"

Marley shook her head. As soon as he left she took her shoes off and stretched her legs out, feeling some free pain.

She didn't dance as much as she wanted, instead she just sat down for the first hour and a half. Ryder sat with her the entire time, with the occasional getting food for Marley when she felt hungry , even though Marley told him he could go dance with other people. She eventually got him to do so, promising the next slow so g she would dance with him.

When he left, Marley waits a few extra minutes before getting up and going to the bathroom. Once again she took half the dress off, stuck two fingers Dow. Her throat and shoved them in the back.

It was funny though, two seconds after her first round of force puking, she felt something hit the back of her head. She glanced up, thinking g someone opened the door of the largest stall and saw what she was doing. She found nothing though.

She did her force vomiting three more times, lifted her dress back up and readjusted it as much as she could. It still felt a bit tight on her but she managed to get as comfortable as possible. She just had to keep her mind clear.

When she returned to the table she found Ryder sitting there with a plate full of cookies and brownies, delicious and mouth watering. Marley was craving them.

_'But I just... Oh well, I'll do it for you baby.'_ She thought aloud in her head.

She sat next to him and, without him noticing, she reached for a fudge brownie. Before she could grasp it, Ryder held the plate up to her and said "I'd figure you want something like this. You've been craving junk food all week."

"Not me personally," Marley said."Baby has been craving."

"I don't blame you, either you, the food is freaking amazing!"

_'Too bad I am going to get more fat than I should.'_ Marley thought but instead she nodded and finished eating the brownie. She took three more after that, and decided to not eat anymore after that.

* * *

Several hours, a few hundred songs and fifty seven zillion calories later, Marley was in the bathroom. She was sitting on the floor with half her dress off and holding back tears. She had no idea why her dress was so tight right now. Did she eat a lot? She did go to the bathroom a lot and puked herself by force. But she also felt that it was a game in her mind.

But this was Marley; it all came back to her body. She had been at the amazing reception for about several hours now. It was nine at night and everyone was still as crazy as before. Everyone on both sides of tr family could party!

Marley left the bathroom after readjusting her dress and wiping her face with a paper towel. When she left the bathroom she found Ryder dancing with Quinn to some black eye peas song. She smiled, thinking about the night.

She and Ryder danced with each other for every song. Only three of them (not In a row) were with friends. They danced to fast songs and slow and she had actually taught him the Cotton Eye Joe. It was amazing, and Ryder seemed to be enjoying himself. So she decided to take a cab ride home and leave him be.

Before she could a thing she felt an arm swing around her. She turned to her side and found Jake.

"Ditching already? It's only eleven at night and everyone's not a bit tired... well except Brittney's Mom and Mrs. Pillsbury-Sh." Jake commented, calling Emma by the nickname he calls her since he's been out of William McKingly.

Marley laughed "He'll I'm not ditching biology class"

"Hello, Jewish here, I have a legitimate reason to not _ever_ do that," Jake laughed. "And your reason would be what, Marley?"

"I'm tired so I'm going home. If Ryder asks just tell I left." She told him. _'At least this saves me a trip.'_

"Your sure?" Jake said. "Look I know you two got here from Brittney's cousins, Melinda and Roger, and they're both drunk off their asses, so I'll give you two a ride home. I don't care if I miss the rest of this party or not."

"No, really. He know's I've been sick lately, I got a cold from someone at work. So he'll understand and want me home to rest. And he's busy dancing and having fun, so I'm going to let him enjoy himself."

"Okay." Jake said. "Feel better, Marley."

"Bye." Marley said and left the room within minutes. She took some change out of her bag, waited five minutes at the bus, and got on board.

* * *

Marley when Marley got back home, she instantly took the dress off and ran I to the bathroom, shoving her fingers down her throat until she felt empty. Once done she went back into the bedroom and rested in bed, not bothering to put her pajamas on over her underwear and bra, and cried until she fell asleep.

She slept peacefully, almost. She, or the baby, were hungry right now and making the huger grow more and more. Marley gave up to the constant growling and got up. "This is a game... The Hunger Games," She joked to herself as she put on a random shirt and a pair of pajama pants she found with the shirt.

_"I'm not hungry, Baby's hungry... aren't you little baby? That's your stomach I heard, not mine. I'm not hungry at all."_

Marley got into the kitchen and searched around for several minutes until she found the package of chocolate chip cookies in the cabinet, double chocolate specials too. She opened the fresh new package, her mouth watering like a speedy waterfall as her body ached in total happiness of chocolate chip cookies. She opened the package and took them into the living room with her. She watched the television.

"Watching something boring on television will make me fall asleep, therefore I won't eat as much and neither will baby."

Fifteen minutes later Marley went to grab her third cookie, only to find the package...empty. She looked again, inside the package slates, only to find all thirty six cookies gone. She glared up at the wall and started to do the math in her head, with her eyes will wide. 36 cookies X 100 calories each equaled 3,6000. 3,600 calories, down her throat and into her stomach.

Marley got up and began heading to the bathroom. Before she could even go inside, the front door opened and revealed a worried, tired Ryder.

"Hey Marley," Ryder said as he closed the door and walked over to her. "What happened?"

"What time is it?"

"Midnight. What happened?"

"I got tired, so I left."

"Without me?" He sounded a little concerned and worried.

"You were enjoying yourself, so I left. I didn't want to bother you with anything." Marley said. "Besides I'm pregnant now, I have to sleep as much as possible until Baby arrives and keeps us up all night for several months."

Ryder smiled with relief, happy that Marley okay and safe, but then stopped and glared down a little bit. "I've been talking to some people tonight... They said you went to the bathroom a lot—"

"Morning sickness." Marley covered her lie.

"A little bit more than usual, you can say." Ryder said. "Marley, they also said most of the time was _after_ you hate eaten something. Usually around ten to half hour minutes later from eating." Ryder's voice was soft as he held both of Marley's hands in his. "Marley if anything is on your mind, anything, please talk to me about it. I want to know what's going on in your mind. Especially during... during this magnificent time, growing a family."

"Growing pains is more like it." Marley bitterly stated. "I'm fine, I just... I'm tired, that's all. I was just heading to brush my teeth in the case that I fall asleep."

Ryder, still unsure of what Marley was thinking in her mind, smiled and hugged her. "Okay, so long as you okay. Want me to come with you to the meeting tomorrow?"

"No, I'll be okay." Marley said. "I just realized, this is the first time I've gone to support meetings since I been told about the pregnancy."

"Your definitely sure you don't want me to come on this one?" Ryder asked again, looking deep into her eyes. "One hundred percent sure?"

"I'll be fine, I promise." Marley stated.

Minutes later with Ryder in bed and Marley laying on the couch, she watched television. She glanced down at her baby torso and rubbed it. "I can't wait to see you, baby."

* * *

**Aww! I loved writing this chapter, for some reason. Anyways thanks for reading.**

**Plus, like I did in my other Ryley fic, is there anything you want to see in this story? I have most of the chapters planned out, but if there is anything you guys want too see/hear, leave me the opinion in the review. I DO plan on writing about the support group, more of the relationship between Marley and Ryder, and more on her pregnancy-eating disorder problems.**

**But if you want anything included, let me know :)**

**~ Ember411**


	6. A Daily Day

**Thank you all so much for the reviews! Each and every one of you reviewing and following. So here's another chapter for the day!**

**So one of my reviewers, _Emma Shea._ pointed out a few things that don't make sense. So hopefully in this chapter I can explain all that makes no sense, into sense.****.**

**Also, I never actually been to any type of support meeting, but I'm going to base it off movies and shows that I've seen. I saw a documentary called "I'm pregnant and..." with the episode called _"I'm pregnant and... have an eating disorder."_ Although the lady in the episode suffered anorexia, its the same thing. So.. yes.**

* * *

Marley never did sleep that night. She didn't vomit either. Instead she just stayed up, watched television and rubbed her torso. She loved her little baby so much, she wanted to have them right now. But she knew she had, what? Several more months until the little baby was born. She still found it hard most days that she was pregnant. One had to have several periods to get pregnant, and in order to get a period a girl must (on average) weigh around one hundred pounds. As far as Marley knew the last time she weighed herself was five or four months ago. She had weighed ninety five pounds. She must of gained enough weight to have a period and get pregnant, but now for the past few months she's been unsure of her weight or not.

Around five in the morning she got up and took her jacket off the coat hanger. A paper fell out and she picked it up. It was the promise she had made several days earlier. Already she's broken her promise on not forcing herself to puke. She banged her head against her hand.

Marley knew what she had to do. She quickly grabbed a piece of paper, sat down at the kitchen counter, and thought for several minutes about the promises again. This time having deeper meaning in them, not just random words to make. She had come up with promises that she knew she'd be able to keep to herself and her baby.

_I, Marley Elizabeth Rose-Lynn, promise my unborn baby the following promises as of today: June 27. _

_**I** promise I will carry them until January, when they are 9 months old.  
__**I** promise to keep my health in anyway I could, without the use of vomiting.  
**I** will jog, walk, watch my calorie intake and anything else that I can do.  
__**I** can do this on my own, with the small support of Ryder and group support. I'm strong enough to handle my eating disorder and my pregnancy. __I promise to stay healthy after I have my baby.  
**I** will get over my eating disorder by the time I have this baby.  
__**I** promise I will do anything I can to keep my self and my baby healthy._

She signed her name at the end of the paper, re-read it to make sure that was all she would do. She smiled in her promise note and made sure to hide it somewhere where Ryder wouldn't find this. She never hid anything from Ryder, just as of now when she vomited by force, but that was over. Now her new secret was this promise note. She'd never lie to him, but just this one. And he'll never find it, she thought, as I know where I can hide this note.

Marley showered, got dressed and grabbed a banana and left for work. It was six twenty in the morning and Marley had work at seven at a local radio station downtown. She usually took the bus as it was a ten minute ride but Marley decided to walk instead. She could enjoy the summer and get the exercise that she would use for staying healthy. The walk wasn't too long, really, just about a half hour walk.

* * *

She sang on the radio, her dream job. The radio station was _LimaStar_. Sometimes she'd talk too in a casual conversation, but she usually sang on the radio. She worked from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon. She liked it and she enjoyed the people she worked with, but her boss... her boss was a different story.

Mr. Theodore Cooper wasn't the best on both work ethics and in personal life ethics. He was the type of man who as a child was given a peanut butter sandwich, on purpose, and was personally affected about the event. From that day forward he didn't give two-shits about anyone who was below him. Anyone above him, in anyway, got his respect, and those below didn't get as much respect as one deserves. He was also the type of man who could be a heterosexual and still had high fashion sense.

Or, speaking in high school terms, he was Kitty. And Marley was usually his least favorite person in the world. Why? Who knows, he just didn't like her. But he had no reasons to fire her because Marley always did good. If she did bad, Theodore Cooper would tell what happened, in the honest truth too (not adding to he story) and usually it was a small incident and therefore Marley would receive nothing bad of a punishment, Besides, she preferred to be by herself at work just like in high school.

Marley got in about a minute late. A minute late, in general, isn't too bad. But to Theodore Cooper it was as if the person was three hours late.

"Ms. Rose?" Theodore Coopers voice said from behind. "I see you are three hours late."

"A minute late, Mr. Cooper." Marley said. "I won't let it happen again."

"It better not." He said, eyeballing her. "Go poor people shopping again. You wore this before, in fact I remember, you wore it three weeks ago on Friday. It's impossible for me to forget that 3/4 white lace sleeve with that sky blue dress. Tell me at which poor peoples store did you find those _DV by Dolce Vita Eugene Boots _, because the real pair are about four hundred green bills. And I know your usual paycheck numbers, usually, and it's impossible to afford those." He smiled. "Unless you offer yourself to some science experiment where they test how poor a poor persons blood is."

_I don't need this now! I can usually handle you, but please don't annoy me today. I don't need the man-version of Kitty in a work place now, thank you Theodore. _"I won't let it happen again. Me being a minute late, Mr. Cooper."

"Ms. Rose?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind staying a few more hours today, for me?" Theodore Cooper was a news reporter in the morning and night time talk show host at night, usually from five until eleven.

"Um..." Marley was unsure.

"I'll give you my pay, knowing how poor you are, and I'll cover for you at some other time." Theodore Cooper said. Since he spoke truth (with the insults to Marley's personal life), Marley knew he had his word on covering.

Thinking for a few minutes and debating, she agreed. Her support meeting was from three thirty until five thirty.

"I can go in from six to eleven, I have something to do from three thirty to five." She said, smiling.

"Hmm, well since your a goody-goody, I can take that." Theodore Cooper said and left.

_Ugh! I forgot I had to deal with Theodore Cooper. I can't believe he's back from vacation in France with his perfect, skinny, tiny wife and his three children. I was hoping he would of left and do something else... that involved living in another state._ Marley glanced down at her belly. With her cardigan on, it was hard to tell that she was pregnant. But she knew she have to tell eventually. She was almost three months! She had a small belly, but it looked big due to her very thin body shape. It looked more like she weight a lot and hasn't exercised in months. _Ugh, I look like a big, fat balloon._

* * *

Four hours and seven songs sang on the radio later at lunch time, Marley sat outside the studio eating the lunch she had brought along. It wasn't much, just a banana, a pear, almonds and kiwifruit. She wasn't too hungry personally but the child inside of her was starving, or so it seemed.

"Baby, want to be a bit nice to Mommy and _not_ eat so much?" Marley giggled, rubbing her belly. "You like to hear me sing, don't you?"

She heard her cell phone ring and picking her phone up she saw it was Unique.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Girl, Unique loves you on the radio!" Her best friend said on the other line. Unique had donated her work and talent to some local theater schools in Lima, but for now was in Cincinnati for other work for a few weeks. Unique was staying in a rental home with an older sister during her time. "Unique's students love my girl on the radio too."

"Aw thanks Unique," Marley said. "When you coming to Lima?"

"Next month. Girl, we're going to have a big bash. So tell Unique all the great news of the world."

"Well don't tell anyone, promise?"

"Promise, honey."

"Well I went to the doctors a few days ago and... I'm pregnant." Marley said loud enough for Unique to hear, but low so nobody at work knew. She wasn't quiet ready to tell anyone yet. Maybe next week.

"Oh My, Sweet Jesus! Lord Almighty and Queen of Dance and Acting Judy Garland!" Unique squealed into the phone. "Whendidyoufindout? Howfarareyou? WhatdoesRyderthinkaboutthis? Whoelseknowsaboutthis? What'sthebabygender? Haveyougotnamespickedout? When'stheduedate?"

"Woah, Unique calm down!" Marley laughed into the phone. "One question at a time, please."

"How far are you?"

"Almost three months."

"So...January is the due date? Oh, how sweet and beautiful is that! A newborn baby for the new year! What do you want, boy or girl?"

"A healthy baby," Marley giggled. "I want to have a healthy baby with no problems."

"Of course! Now...oh yeah," Unique's voice a bit low. "How is this and your ED working out?"

"It's... tough." Marley answered. "But I'm working on it. I'm seeing a doctor next week for a check up and later today I have my support group meeting."

"Oh good, well I'll be there next month and I'll help out in anyway as possible. Now another question, do you care to know the baby gender?"

"Not really," Marley answered. "Do you think I should?"

"I will decorate the nursery!" Unique got excited. "When we're able to find out the gender I want to make the room for the baby. If you want to be surprised, have Ryder tell me. Unless he wants to be surprised too, have your doctor write it down and give it to me. Unique loves makeovers on people, but especially on rooms in homes!" She said in her usual spicy tone.

"Alright, I'll let you know about the gender next month." Marley said getting up and walking to the trash to throw her food away. "I've got to go now. See you later."

"Bye girl."

Marley hung up. She loved talking to Ryder, but Unique was better to speak too. She was easier to talk to on days where she didn't want to speak to Ryder. Unique's persona was opposite of Marley's and that's what Marley loved about Unique.

* * *

Hours later Marley was at her support group. Her meetings took place in a hospital, in a back room that appeared at a living room and was barely used for anything.

She's been here for a few years now, with the same three ladies who have the same problem as her. Mary-Alice, Rebecca and Isabelle. Wilson was the group supporter and has been with them since the first day. Although one had to pay for the program, anyone who was assigned to Wilson for support group had him for free. He was the laid back guy who, while having to be strict, made everyone feel easy to speak in the atmosphere and made all the meetings enjoyable.

"Hey ladies!" Wilson's happy-to-be-here attitude was positive and bright, something that Marley enjoyed. The other two ladies, Mary-Alice and Isabelle, found it odd most days that he was happy. Rebecca was the tough girl of the group who loathed sharing her feelings, but ended up doing so. She loathed Wilson's happiness when she was pissed and this week was her pissed off week.

"Wilson I don't want to be here." Rebecca said.

"Why? Do I smell?" He asked, sniffing himself. "So this what I get from swimming in a pool for a bath this morning."

"Ew, people pee in pools!" Mary-Alice stated.

"I usually don't care, Mary-Alice." Wilson stated, taking his seat on a chair in the circle. "So we missed you last week Marley and Becky."

"Why can't you call me Rebecca?" Rebecca asked. "It's my legal name for goodness snakes And I had a reason to not come last week."

"Same." Marley said. She knew she had to tell them she was pregnant. Maybe Wilson would help her get over some thoughts she had, but at the same time she didn't want to share. She knew the other ladies would love to know about this, since most of them hard a hard time to conceive. It took 33 year old Mary-Alice two years to get pregnant and now she's the mother of a ten year old boy. 35 year old Rebecca had children with her eggs and her husbands sperm, but born from her sister's body since Rebecca's body wouldn't be able to hold a pregnancy. Isabelle's, a mother of five (born at once), had to have a surrogate since she and her husband wanted children but her body would let her have any. She had been pregnant once, but miscarried This was a year ago and Marley remembered it.

Isabelle had said she was two months pregnant when she told the group. Everyone was excited and were happy that someone they knew was going to have a baby. The other two had already had children before coming to the program, so everyone were curious as to how Isabelle would work out in her situation. Three weeks later Isabelle has sent a message to Wilson, stating she had miscarried due to her eating disorder. Isabelle stopped coming to meetings after that, but she had come back in February of this year to get help again. She was only 35.

"What happened, Becky?" Wilson asked her.

Rebecca was quiet for a few minutes. "My sister died. The one who had anorexia."

"Rebecca, I'm sorry." Isabelle's sweet voice said.

"It wasn't from that, really. She had a peanut allergy and in the middle of the night she ate a cookie that had peanut oil in them. She died in the middle of the night so it wasn't too too bad." Rebecca said. "Of course I didn't think about the allergy, all I could think of was the cookie that killed her. Like, a cookie killed my sister. So about three hours after I found the news I went into the bathroom and locked myself in and shoved my fingers down my throat."

"Aw Rebecca, I'm sorry." Wilson said, taking her hand and rubbing it soothingly. "How you holding up?"

"I didn't want to come, but Janice came to me two nights ago. Her dying wish was that I get better, so I'm here for her case only." Although Rebecca said that, Marley knew that Rebecca was here for her own good and for herself, not her sisters (totally).

"See, now you've got another reason to come and be around my lively persona!" Wilson exclaimed with bliss. "Your sister wants you to be around my total awesome-ness!"

"If my sister had respect for me, than she would freaking leave me alone and stop telling me what to do from beyond the grave." Rebecca said.

"Now you see ladies," Wilson said. "And don't get me wrong, Becky, but food won't kill you. If you eat healthy than you feel healthy and won't feel like the whole world is, well, 'I'm so freaking special like a dumb ass!'" He mimicked a high pitched voice, like a girl, and made the girls laugh. "So Marley, any reason why you missed last week? Did I smell bad? Does your husband think I'm having sex with you—like Mary-Alice's husband, in a joking manner of course— or could you not handle my awesome-ness?"

Marley laughed. "You're too awesome, to awesome for me to be with in a romantic way. But I had a reason, I wasn't feeling good."

"Damn stomach virus!" Isabelle said. "It's going around town, I knew it."

"No it wasn't a stomach virus, Isabelle." Marley said. "I'm almost three months pregnant."

There was a moment of silence until Mary-Alice grinned, jumped up and tackled Marley into a hug. "Yey! You're pregnant!"

Soon the other two ladies joined in on the hug. Even Wilson got in a few seconds later.

Once everyone had calmed down a bit, they got back into their seats. "So," Mary-Alice began. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay." Marley said. "I, uh, hate that I feel like I'm overeating though. I know it's because of the pregnancy that I'm eating more than usual, but it still makes me filled bad and I feel all the calories coming onto me."

"Well the baby needs it." Wilson said. "And besides, here's a fun story. I knew of this lady who suffered an eating disorder, like you girls she was bulimic, and she got pregnant. After her baby she she suffered less from her eating disorder. She wanted to make a good example on her son."

"Jennifer Hudson?" Isabelle asked.

"No Isabelle, Jennifer used Weight Watchers." Rebecca told her.

"So it's the same to me. Weight loss programs are the reasons why I'm here."

"Isabelle you're here because when you were sixteen you started a weight loss program, did everything wrong in the program by eating less, and made yourself anorexic. And you liked, and still like, the feeling. In fact your the only girl in this entire program who's anorexic."

"Yeah, isn't this group for bulimics only?" Mary-Alice asked.

"Well the program is cheap. It's twenty five bucks a week, but i got lucky to get Wilson by random."

"Same." Mary-Alice said.

"Same here." Rebecca agreed.

Marley remained quiet, as the program knew of her and Ryder's financial and gave her Wilson on purpose, though they don't do that often. But she lied and said, "Yeah, same."

* * *

The rest of the meeting that Marley stayed at was another fifteen minutes of pregnancy, with Wilson saying that she really should be reading the pamphlets that was given to her. Marley nodded, but could care less about the pamphlets. She knew the possibles if she didn't remain healthy. A premature baby and breathing problems.

She worked the extra hours, although she dreaded having to talk about local events and cultural events. She loathed it in total. By the time she returned home she simply said goodnight to Ryder, laid on the bed and rubbed her baby belly until she fell asleep.

**Well another chapter is done, my friends. And thanks for the reviews AND ideas. Most of you have the same ideas as me and they will be done. But in the meantime, anything else you want to see happen just let me know.**

**Ember411.**


	7. Body Image Issues

**Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm really enjoying this as much as I did when I wrote _Let My Love Open The Door, Marley _Several months/year ago. I'm considering writing a college edition one, based off some events that I had written about in this story. But first I have to play around with chapters in my head, so who knows.**

**Author Note: BY now everyone knows of the pregnancy (friends, co-workers, family, ect). I originally had a chapter written about that but... it just never worked out. So yeah, that's it.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

By seventeenth of July, a three-month pregnant Marley was still up and about when she could. Ryder didn't know about her canceling her doctor appointments, so he never knew. Marley was stubborn enough to not go. She didn't want to go and be told she's gained weight. Even if it was good weight, that being the weight she's gained from pregnancy. She still felt fat.

She will go for a run or a jog, commonly jog, when she's able too. Usually she's tried to sneak one about an hour after eating or so. She went on late night runs too, between ten and midnight, until Ryder asked her to stop because he was worried about her being out that late. She then, instead, woke up between four and five and went on an early morning run. Ryder was usually asleep when she left and when she returned, but he caught her once leaving around three thirty.

"Marley?" His fatigued voiced asked, as he lifted his head from the pillow. "Marley it's...three thirty in the morning, what are you doing?"

"J-J-Jog." Marley answered, as she had just taken her nightgown off and held a pair of workout shorts in her hands. "I'm going for a jog."

Ryder signed, leaning back for a second to hold his forehead. "Marley," Ryder said, "Come back to bed, you can do that later even skip today. Yeah, Marley just skip a day. Skipping a day will not kill you Marley."

Marley didn't want to argue, she just wanted to go on a jog. But she had no call backs for Ryder so instead she just dropped her shorts and got back into the bed, facing away from Ryder and shoving him back when he tried to cuddle with her. Sure he said I Love You and tried to kiss her, but he wasn't too concerned about her feelings now. She was here, where he knew he could watch her health.

* * *

She missed out on more support meetings. The last one she went to was when she said she was pregnant. The Program had never called her to report her on this "accident." Nor did Wilson call to see if anything was going on. From not going to many support meetings, Marley felt stronger.

She had remembered her promise. "_I will get little support from Ryder and doctors and life support meetings," _She thought to herself. _"I can do this. I know I can."_

Ryder never asked much about things, since he believed that she was going to these check ups and life support meetings. Although he did, personally, feel neglected in the pregnancy experience. Call him odd but Ryder really wanted to part of the experience. He wanted to go to these check ups and attended at least one life support meeting with Marley. He wanted to know that she, and the baby, but mainly Marley was healthy and he wanted to know what went on in her mind during this entire experience.

Marley had finished taking a shower and had forgotten her clothes back in her room. Ryder would out for the day and she had already taken a morning jog around the block. She was heading out food shopping for supplies that'd last them for a few weeks. It usually wasn't much since they had to take the bus to and from the food store, and that food resulted in small fruits and veggies, soups, milk, bread and eggs. But a few times their neighbor James Atkins would lend them his truck for this event.

Marley went over, knocked on the door, and waited for Jim to hand her the keys. Now that she waited, though, she saw that the truck was gone. And Jim wasn't answering the door. She decided that Jim was using the truck now and so Marley would have the small supplies to bring.

She loved being pregnant. Some positives to the pregnancy was if she got on a full bus, someone would offer to stand up so that she could sit. Though she usually declined, the bus driver said that the bus wouldn't move unless the pregnancy chick sat down. So she decided that if someone were to stand up, she'd take their seat.

Along the bus ride Marley's mind wandered off to a far off distance place. The future, as she saw it, was full of her being as big as her mother was and dying from a heart attack. She had those nightmares after her mother had passed away and she continued to have those for years. Ryder knew she had them and the nights she woke up from them all Ryder did was stay up and talk to her about anything—movies,books, music, friends, family. Anything to get her mind off of things. Usually they stayed up all night talking and Ryder would be tired the next day. But it was worth it for him.

* * *

When one has an eating disorder they're constantly making food or avoiding it as much as possible. In Marley's case she would make food and serve it to others and not eat herself. If you have an eating disorder, in the process of getting help and at the food store... it's a challenge.

When you're pregnant, you constantly want to eat. Sometimes you over eat but the weight comes off rapidly. All you care about is wanting the last cupcake or brownie cake at the party.

If you're pregnant, have an eating disorder and aren't getting the help that one should receive during this time of an upcoming moment, there's a problem.

Marley walked through the lanes of food, trying to keep her mind together so that she could grab the small amount of food they needed for a while. One side of her kept saying _Come on Marley, we need to get the food. Don't think about the calorie intake because it'll work off. _But the other side kept saying _Circus clown. Circus tank. Future version of mother. Lunch Lady. Fatty McFatFat. Fatty. Fat. Fat Lady. Ew, Fatty, don't grab that! That has way too many calories! _

Marley stopped in the middle of the lane. She felt like she was about to burst open, so she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and sang. "_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey. you'll never dear how much I'll miss you. Please don't take my sunshine away."_

"Marley?"

Marley turned and found both Ryder and Jake standing there with a puzzled look on their faces. "Oh, um, hey."

"What you doing here?" Jake asked.

"Food shopping." She answered. She turned to Ryder and said, "I took the bus."

"I took Jim's truck." Ryder said. "You were sleeping on the couch, I left a note on the table for you."

Marley thought for a second, then realize that was the paper she had thrown earlier with the other random papers on the counter. "Oh, I must have thrown it out."

"Whatever, it's all good." Ryder said. "Did you get much?"

"Umm," Marley peered down into her basket and saw what she had grabbed. The only thing she grabbed that was on the list was the apples. The rest she just randomly grabbed without thinking; bananas, walnuts, kiwifruit and blueberries. "Just the apples, I must have grabbed the rest by accident." She said.

"Eh, what's wrong with a few more fruit, right?" Ryder laughed as he took them out of the basket and placed them in the cart. "Thanks for saving me a trip to the apples though. Cat woman might be there."

"Who?" Marley asked.

"Cat woman." Jake said, as the trio began walking. "There's a woman there with all these cats in her basket, buying apples. Every time she grabs an apple she's all Disney creeping and says 'My precious! My precious poison!' It's... it's odd."

"Wow, she sounds lovely. Are you still dating Melody, Jake?" Marley asked.

"Yes..."

"Damn, I was going to set you up with Cat Lady." Marley laughed. "What are you doing here?"

"Hunting for Spongebob." He sarcastically answered. "A certain someone's birthday is coming up." He smiled.

"Who's?" Marley asked. Her birthday was Valentine's Day, Ryder's was in December, Jake's was August and... from everyone she knew, nobody had a birthday in July.

"Melody's nephew, Max." Jake said. "He and his mom, Clarissa, are staying with Melody for two weeks and his birthday is within that time. So Melody's making me get the food while she gets the the plates."

"How old will he be?"

"Five, I think." Jake said. "But from the partying that's being thrown, it's like a sweet sixteen. Elephants, horse rides, circus clowns, moon bounce thing and a freaking' large cake... Only person I know that will be there is Melody, and she'll be with her sister since they live in another state."

"Oh."

"You should come along," Jake said. "Save me."

"I'll think about it." Marley said as Ryder came up with the cart. Marley's stomach roared loudly, enough for the three of them to hear her hunger. Marley covered her stomach and said, "Uh, I passed a drug store five stores down... I'll meet you guys there."

"Hey come over for lunch. Melody's making grilled cheese." Jake said. "They're the best."

"I'm in." Ryder said. "You coming?"

Marley loved grilled cheese. But she didn't want to eat a lot of it. She shook her head, biting her mouth.

"Okay...uh..." Ryder said, looking between Jake and Marley.

"Go." Marley said. "You go, I'll just grab a snack and go home. I'm really tired," Marley forced a perfect yawn. "Really, I'll be fine."

"Nice fake yawn." Jake laughed.

"Okay... well I'l just go home." Marley said, holding her hand out for the key's. "I can drive, I promise. I'll bring the food in."

"Half of this stuff is heavy,"

"I'll be fine. If Jim's home than I'll ask him to help." Marley said. "Please? I wanna go home soon."

"Okay." Ryder said with a smile. "I'll take the bus home."

_Yey! Now Ryder won't suspect me of not eating anything at all and I can go on. It's just one day, how bad can it be, right?_

* * *

A half hour of finishing shopping, getting back home, bringing the food in and putting it all away, Marley sat down and took long, deep breaths.

Her stomached growled again for the fifth time since she had left Ryder and Jake at the food store. She was angry and annoyed. She didn't want to eat but she had no choice. She got up and went into the kitchen to make toast. While waiting for the toast, she poured herself water and drank that.

"I hate this feeling." Marley said as she grabbed the toast and took a bite. "No butter, too many calories already."

Ten minutes later she was upstairs and changing into pajamas. She undressed and before she put her nightgown on she turned and found herself... in the mirror.

She glared her her reflection; frail body, frail face. Very thin, almost can see her bones and she looked worn out. She looked as if she was going to pass out at any minute of the second of the day. She...loathed herself. She heard her stomach again and signed.

"Okay baby," She rubbed her belly and gave a faint smile. "Just for you... chicken soup sound good?" She smiled as she placed the nightgown over head head and left to make the soup.

Marley laid on the couch with her favorite navy blue blanket over her, the pups at the end of her feet, the soup in her hands and watching a movie. Once she finished the soup bowl, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Okay, well there we go again. Thanks again, so much, for the reviews.**

**~ Ember411**


	8. Scales

**Wow, so surprised I could update within time with all the work I have! Well, here's another chapter. AND at the end of the chapter, I have a question.**

**Rated T+: Eating disorder, minor cussing (please don't be mad at me!)**

* * *

The party arrived a week and three days later. Marley, who now felt like total shit. She was disgusted with how she looked—which to her was, well, obese. She felt fat now that she couldn't fit into her skinny clothes, but she was glad she didn't have to start wearing maternity clothes yet. That was something she didn't want to wear yet, maternity clothes. Or in other words: Fat people clothes.

Marley and Ryder ended up going to the child's party at Melody's house. Although Marley didn't want to go to a place where they would most likely serve all junk food, she felt bad that Jake was going to be alone. At least if Marley ended up sneaking out of the party, Ryder would be there to keep Jake from bring alone. Bromance was their thing.

Before they left Marley was trying to get a shirt on her. It was her favorite one too; a white short sleeve shirt lace on the back. She got it on, but her baby bump (which was now a bit larger) caused the shirt to not go over in total cover. Marley felt disgusted as she sighed and ended up taking an extra ten minutes to find something else. She ended up wearing a white dress with a long yellow cardigan with 3/4 sleeves. When put on her favorite pair of boots and got downstairs.

"Took so long much?" Ryder joked with a smile.

"It's not funny." Marley said bitterly. "You try putting on clothes that don't fit because your...your..."

"Pregnant?" Ryder asked.

"Yeah." Marley said, glad that she didn't have to say fat. If she said fat then Ryder would probably make her stay home and he stay with her and she'd dread it because he would want to talk to her about everything. At this point, Ryder still did not know about her skipping appointments and support meetings.

"Alright let's get going." Ryder said opening the door.

* * *

Over at Melody's house, there was loads of people that were friends with Max's mother and friends of Melody's too. When Ryder and Marley got there they instantly found Jake at the table, sipping from a red cup. He looked bored at hell and looked as if he wanted to kill someone.

"Hi Jake." Marley said when they got over there."

"Hey." Jake said. "Ryder too?"

"Sure, why not?" Marley asked.

"I thought because..."

"Nope, nope, we're not discussing that ever again." Ryder cut Jake off, blushing red. This made Marley curious about Ryder's thing with child birthday parties.

"Okay, that's cool dude." Jake said, handing them each a soda can. "Here, Melody ordered a shit load of things."

"Wow Jake Puckerman swearing?" Marley asked.

"Since two in the morning." Jake said.

Marley walked off in another direction, leaving Jake and Ryder alone.

"So you didn't tell Marley?" Jake asked, an eyebrow lifted.

"If she finds out that I'm terrified of both clowns and horses.. she'll never let go of it." Ryder laughed. "So is the party that bad? If you've been up since two?"

"Yes. And also Melody, for a while." Jake said. "First she's worrying about a child's party, for a child that isn't hers, and acting as if the child is hers. But also for about an hour she was worrying about her weight."

"Her weight?" Ryder asked, as he looked over to find Melody. He spotted her easily, as she was the only girl at the party with tan skin and dark hair who could pull off wearing the color yellow. Such as the yellow dress and yellow headband she was wearing right now at the party. "She looks fine."

"Past few weeks she's eaten a lot. She looks about... one twenty five... but the bathroom scale is broken." Jake said. "It's stuck at a certain number."

"Really?"

"Yep. We did a few tests. I went on, and I weight about one eighty. Me and her stepped on and our weight together is bigger than what the stuck number is, but the number came up again. The two of us, plus me holding Melody's giant ass Great Dane on me and Melody holding Max... we were probably over one thousand pounds... the number still came up."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. So Melody's getting rid of it this week. It sucks though, she had to go next door to find out her weight. It's like one twenty five."

"I hid the one in the bathroom," Ryder said as the two of them sat down. "About a day after Marley and I find out she was pregnant. But I told her it was broken and I gave her some reasons as to why it broke, and I didn't and still don't want her worrying about her weight. I tell her everything is going to be fine and that she'll loose what she gains when she has the baby."

"That's gotta suck. Being pregnant, having to gain weight, and have a body image issue when you think you need to loose weight when in reality you don't need too." Jake said. "I've gotta say I give Marley and you credit for keeping sane."

"Yeah." Ryder said, looking over at Marley being surrounded by little children. She smiled and was laughing as the kids and her was holding hands and spinning in a circle. "We're keeping sane."

* * *

A while later Marley was sitting down, holing her head as she tried to keep focus on everything. She had played with the children and danced with Ryder at some point, but that was about it. Marley felt sick and disgusted with herself right now.

She heard her stomach roar. She hadn't eaten anything since that morning and it was already six. It was getting dark out, so the party gifts and dinner was being served inside. The clowns and such had left hours ago. But Marley remained outside getting the cool summer air to hit her and hopefully calm her down.

"Hi Marley," Ryder said as he came over with two plates in his hand. "I brought food for you. Chicken broccoli ziti."

"Thanks." Marley said and took the plate. She wanted to eat, but she didn't either. "I'm starving."

"You must be. You didn't eat the amazing pancakes I made this morning. All burnt black and crispy. Or when I made the poptarts and burned them."

"Ramsey will love you if you make food for him." Marley giggled as Ryder sat next to her on the bench. "This looks yummy."

"Yeah, I would've gotten pizza, but I didn't know if you wanted cheese or pepperoni." Ryder said. "So, I grabbed two of each." He held his plate up and revealed the two slices of cheese and two slices of pepperoni.

"Hmmm, I love cheese," Marley said, looking at the bigger slice of cheese and her mouth-watering.

Ryder, observing her face and noticing that she was looking at the bigger slice of cheese, smiled as he took the slice and gave her the slice. "Take it, my treat."

"Thank you, on my goodness." Marley said as she took a bite. "Excusing me for swearing, but this is so fucking food."

Ryder laughed. "Like I never heard that word out of your mouth before? Senior year of high school when you did it five times. First when someone knocked you down, second when coach Sue insulted Unique for the tenth time and you screeched 'Fuck you!' at her, the third when Kitty blamed you for something, fourth was when Jake and Artie locked you in the elevator and the last time was when Mr. Schue locked us in the school for some bonding event and you screamed at him the next morning. I remember too. 'Fuck you, Mr. William Schue! I had to deal with the most annoying idiots in the world, besides Ryder! Ryder was the only sane one.'"

"Ok, that last one did NOT happen." Marley laughed. "We got locked in and I was swearing because I thought he was the killer. I said 'Fuck you, get away from us!' because I thought he was going to rape us. It was total darkness too so I had a reason to scream."

"But I was the only sane one."

"Until the lights went off and you ran out of the cafeteria, screaming like a little five-year old child. Like that macho mega stud guy from that show you told be about when we talked about the dead bodies file closet."

"Shut up," Ryder said as he bit into the pizza. "Best pizza ever."

"Yeah," Marley said as she took a last bite of hers. "I'm so hungry. I can't believe how hungry I am."

"Me too."

* * *

A little while later, around six, the kids were giving out gifts to Max after cake and ice cream. Marley was on her fifth piece of cake and her third bowl of ice cream. She felt disgusted with herself, but she love it SO much.

During the middle of giving out gifts Marley had to go to the bathroom to pee. Upstairs was the only bathroom that was free. Inside Marley did her business and washed her hands. When she turned to wash dry her hands, she found a scale. A bathroom scale that looked kind of new. She thought that Melody and Jake had brought it recently.

_I haven't been on a scale since the last one broke. I still can't believe it broke because he was moving it and he dropped it in the bath tub that was filled with water from the pups bath. I still don't find it possible, but he's never lied to me. Maybe I should go on the scale and see how much..._

Marley went over to the scale, took off her jewelry and after a few minutes of thinking if she should do it or not... she took her clothes (dress, cardigan, underwear, bra) off and stepped on the scale. She waited a few minutes before she looked down and had to glare over her baby bump.

She almost cried.

The number read 289.

For about five minutes Marley stood there, trying to keep focus on herself. She wanted to leave there. Now. After eating all that...that... shit she just had, she wanted to go. Quickly she got redressed and put her jewelry back into her bag and left the bathroom quickly.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs she was at the front door. Melody had just come in from outside. "Hey Marley. Jake and Ryder just went to the store to get more ice cream. What's up?

"I-I'm really fatigued. You know... being pregnant and all."

"Oh yeah. I remember when Maxy's mother was like that, haha. Well I'm sure they'll be back soon."

"Okay, I'll wait outside. Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

But instead of waiting, Marley walked back to the house. The twenty-minute walk was just what she needed.

"I needed this. I'm so fat, I'm almost 300. I'm so fat." Marley said as she tried to hold back tears. "Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. Fatty. Fatty. Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. I'm so fucking fat. So fucking fat."

Marley got home and the second she closed the door she began to bawl her eyes out. She was gasping for oxygen as she tried to relax, but what's the use? She was just going to die from her fatness.

She got upstairs, locked herself in one of the guest rooms, and cried into the pillow. She wanted to go shove her fingers down her throat, but she couldn't because of her promise. But she really, really wanted too and after everything she ate at the party. Five minutes later she got up, left the room and went into the bathroom.

She glared at the toilet for several seconds before she went to her knees, took her two fingers, and shoved them into the back of her throat. She cried, feeling the burning acid burn her and that she had just broken her promise to her baby. She did this for several minutes as the food from the party came back up from her stomach. After she did this, she flushed the toilet and washed her hands. Before she left she grabbed toilet paper and blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

She wanted to be alone so she planned on going back to the guest room. When she left the bathroom, though, Ryder had just come through the door. He heard her from upstairs. "Marley?"

Marley quickly walked back to the guest room, but Ryder was already at the top of the stairs and following her at half her speed. "Marley? Marley what's wrong?"

Marley ignored him and went into the bedroom, locking the door again. From her side of the door she slid down and began crying again.

Ryder was knocking on the door. "Marley? Marley? Marley, talk to me please? What's wrong?"

"I-I don't want to talk," She managed to say. "Just leave me alone."

"Marley...Marley did you just come out of the bathroom?" Ryder asked. "What did you do in there?"

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

"I-I had to blow my nose."

"Why did I hear the toilet flush?"

"I... I flushed the used toilet paper..." She cried out again. "Ryder please, leave me alone. I'm not feeling good."

"Marley," His voice sounded weak. "I believe you on the toilet paper, but I can tell from your voice something else happened. What happened, Marley?"

"Nothing!" She screeched.

"Marley did you force yourself to throw up again?" Ryder asked, hating to have to ask her that. "Marley if you threw up by force then it's okay... just tell me... we can work this out. Marley, open the door."

"No." She said.

"Marley please, open the door."

"No. I didn't force myself to throw up." She lied. "Believe me on that, okay?"

"Okay I will. Now open the door please?" He asked again, trying to open the door himself. "Marley, please."

"No. I want to left alone." Marley was now fatigued from crying so much, she just wanted to be alone and fall asleep on the guest bed. "Please, leave me alone."

Ryder thought for several minutes. "Okay," He said. "I'll be downstairs watching t.v if you need anything. Okay?"

"Fine." Marley bitterly answered.

"I love you."

"Bye."

Marley waited until she heard him down the stairs. Once done she got up and went onto the bed. She didn't fall asleep, but she tried. All she did was bawl her eyes out and whimper loudly.

Downstairs, all Ryder heard was a depressed girl. A girl who suffered from body image issues, was currently pregnant with his and her baby, and was suffering more problems with her eating disorder. And all he could do was sit downstairs and watch television because she wouldn't let him talk to her about her throwing up by force again.

**Alright there's another chapter! I hope you all liked it. And don't worry, Ryder is going to find out about Marley's problem really soon! I promise!**

**~Ember411**


	9. Morning Forgiveness's

**Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm really enjoying this!**

**P.S Just watched the recent new episode. I was all "Awww!" when Marley and Ryder were together during _Unchained Melody._ But damn, Jake's pissed! I kind of feel bad that he found out that way, but at least it's better than hearing it from Kitty's mouth!**

* * *

The following morning, Marley woke up early. She still felt disgusted with herself but she felt a bit better than last night. She had showered and got dressed, ready to go out with Unique who wanted to take Marley out clothes shopping for maternity clothes. Something Marley didn't want to do. However their old high school friend Sugar and Brittney (who had returned from her honeymoon with Santana in London) were coming too.

Downstairs Marley found Ryder asleep on the couch. Covered in a think blanket with the fan turned high on. She felt terrible about last night, screaming at him and what not. She wanted to make it up to him and knew how she would do it. Make his favorite breakfast meal: Blueberry French toast with cinnamon pancakes.

Within twenty minutes she had finished making everything, including coffee for Ryder and making herself a single piece of French toast with a glass of apple juice. She was cutting up a piece of the French toast, humming _You are my sunshine _when she felt two arms snake around her waist, pulling her backwards, and warmth against her face with a morning kiss.

"Morning." Ryder's early morning voice greeted. "What's this?" He looked down.

"Yours is on the table." Marley said. "I made your favorites; blueberry french toast and cinnamon pancakes."

"Oh..thank you." Ryder said. Marley actually had it mixed up; his favorites were cinnamon french toast and blueberry pancakes. But he thought it would be rude of him to decline the food she had worked on for him, after last night when she didn't even want to see him. "What'd you make?"

"French toast." She said, finishing up the last piece to cut. "And apple juice, I made coffee for you."

The two of them sat at the counter, where they sat in total silence for about ten minutes. During the middle of of eating, though, Marley's mind went back to last night. Screaming at Ryder when all he was doing was trying to help. She was halfway through her meal, holding back the tears, when she knew she couldn't hold on much longer.

Marley abruptly got up from her seat at the counter and walked away, causing Ryder, with food in his mouth, to ask "Marley?"

Marley went up the stairs and into her and Ryder's bedroom, where she locked the door again and went onto the bed. She sat on the bed and began crying all over again. Her feelings from last nights argument, just came out.

A second later she heard a knock on the door and Ryder call out. "Marley? Marley, what's wrong?"

"J-Just give me a few minutes, okay?" Marley said. "G-Give me a few minutes, please."

"Marley we can talk about this." Ryder said. "Everything will be fine, okay?"

"I just need a few minutes alone." Marley said, calming down a bit and taking deep breaths.

* * *

Ryder, on the other side, sighed as he left for a few seconds to grab something from the bathroom. He returned minutes later with a hair pin, where he stuck the end inside of the keyhole and jingled it around for several seconds. Once he heard something unlock he stood up and pushed the door opened. Ryder found Marley on the bed, wiping away tears as she tried to relax and get her breathing under control. He sighed again, eyeballing her once more, before heading over and kneeled in front of her.

"What's wrong?" He whispered loudly for her to hear, but soft for her.

Marley was mute for a few moments. "I'm sorry." She managed to make eye contact with him. "I didn't mean scream at you last night."

"Well it was a bright surprising to hear you scream at me, but," Ryder rubbed her kneecap gingerly. "I'm not the pregnant girl who is not only hormonal, but also is having problems with her body image esteem. And I probably didn't make things any easier last night."

Marley bit her mouth tightly, still making eye contact with him.

"Marley, what happened at the party last night?" Ryder asked. "What made you leave so quickly?"

"I was upset."

"What about?" He asked. She gave him a specific facial expression that gave him the answer. "Oh."

"It was... uncomfortable." Marley said. "I didn't like the number."

Ryder thought for a second. "Bathroom in the scale upstairs?"

Marley nodded.

Ryder gave a small smile and said, "It's broken. Ja—"

"I broke it!?" Marley screeched randomly loudly, then bawled again. "I broke the scale!"

Ryder quickly sat on the bed, took Marley in his arms, and hugged her warmly as he rocked her. "Shhh, Marley, shhh. No, you didn't break the scale. Jake told me earlier that the scale was broken, it's been broken for a few days. They just haven't gotten rid of it yet. Shhh, Marley, please stop crying."

Marley relaxed after a few moments of letting the tears subside, and she felt a bit better, but not totally.

"You okay now?" Ryder asked.

Marley gave a faint nod. "A little bit." She said. "Ryder, we have to get a new scale soon."

Ryder gave her a puzzled expression. "Why?"

"I want to make sure I'm at an OK weight," She explained. "I mean for when I'm not at the doctors." She explained.

"Oh...uh...okay...I'll get one this weekend." Ryder said. "One condition: You only step on when I'm here with you, whether I'm in the bathroom or not, and if you feel uncomfortable with anything then you have to talk to me."

"I have to?" She asked. "Like, I have to?"

"Only when you feel like it." Ryder said. "Deal?"

Marley thought for several seconds before nodding. "Deal."

The two of them remained like that for several more minutes, hugging and relaxing as Marley's tears came to an end.

"I really didn't vomit last night." She said.

"I know, I know." Ryder said. "Maybe Baby was hungry and made you eat all of it, and just got sick. That can happen... I guess." Ryder said, placing one hand on Marley's baby belly. "You're hungry a lot, maybe your a boy."

"Or a girl." Marley laughed. "Believe it or not, a girls favorite thing to do is eat." She giggled.

"Either way, someone was happy and very full last night." Ryder said, glaring down at the baby belly again. "You're a hungry little...person... My God, I'm talking to a stomach."

"A baby." Marley said.

"At least a healthy one." Ryder said. "Any appointments today?"

"I missed the last life support meeting, so I'm going today." Marley answered him. "But I'm going out with Unique first. She's kind of making me go maternity clothes shopping."

"What shopping?"

"Maternity? It's the clothes that pregnant women wear because their regular clothes don't fit at all?" Marley explained. "Something I kind of been...dreading and been excited about. Exciting knowing that I'm have a baby, still surpried about that, and also dreading because...half the time they don't have good clothes." She lied, knowing that if she said 'fat' in anyway then Ryder would force her to stay home. "You?"

"Home, day off, sports." Ryder answered. "Alright I'm hungry, let's go eat."

* * *

A while later Marley and got on the bus.

_Well here we go Baby. Off to the mall to buy clothes for Mommy because your still growing in there. I can feel you growing every second of the day, baby. I can't wait to see you in the New Year to come. Baby, do me a favor please? Do this and I'll buy you...Xbox or Barbie's Dream Mansion Party Club House. Please don't make me eat to much today?_

* * *

**Well another chapter finished. We're heading towards my favorite chapter with Marley and Ryder, just a few more!**

**QUESTION: Are they having a BOY or a GIRL? Try to guess?**

**Thank you**

**~ Ember411.**


	10. Stress: Marley

**Wow? An update within one day? I love having snow days! So here we go with another chapter.**

**This one and the next one are the same day, but from a different person's perspective. I.e "Marley POV." or "Ryder POV." Just changing up for a little bit and then... duh duh DUH! We're at my favorite part of the story, so far!**

**EEEKKSS! I'm so excited and I'm loving this so far.**

* * *

I got off at the bus stop that was near the mall. The mall was another five minute walk from the stop, but it wasn't too bad. But it sure was hot, it had to be about eighty degrees. Or at least hot enough that I have to have my hair pulled up in a high ponytail, wear this green skirt that I absolutely love and this white shirt that I found in one of my drawers that still fit me. For now.

This was going to be a hard day for me. I usually hate clothes shopping because I keep thinking I'm huge and fat, even when I know I'm not. Now with this baby on the way I knew, and still know, things are going to get more tough for myself. But I made a promise to my baby and I'm going to keep it. I already broke a promise to my baby and I will NOT do that, or break any other promise, again.

Reaching inside of the mall I waited on a bench for Unique and the others to come along. She invited Brittney, who had come home a week ago from Paris with Santana, and Sugar. I haven't seen Sugar since the Fourth of July when Ryder and I were downtown to watch the parade And later again when us three and Sugar's boyfriend, Rory who had just become a citizen on the United States that morning after receiving the results of the immigration test.

Fifteen minutes went by and I was starting to wonder if I were at the wrong end of the mall or in the wrong location or I got here earlier than the others or if I were late. It was then when I heard Unique screech my name. I turned around found Unique in her usual fashionable clothes along with a blonde girl in a red shirt with a white short sleeve cardigan and white skirt and a shorter girl with copper-ish hair wearing a checked pink and white tank top with white shorts and pink two inch heels.

_God, they look so amazing. _I thought to myself. _They're so tiny around the waist even if they're all different shapes and sizes. Unique's as curvy as Whitney Huston and Queen Latifah and amazingly beautiful. Sugar's so small and a bit curvy around her hips and Brittney's so tall and a stick figure. Why can't I just be thin, a little curvy and be small like them?_

I forced myself to smile as I got up and we all met up in the middle. After a quick exchange of hug the four of us began walking around the mall to various of stores and kept observing around. I didn't find much as I knew I wouldn't be able to wear most of these in the upcoming months. I was kind of depressed about that and wished that half of these could fit me now and forever.

As Unique and Sugar fought over who's hands grabbed the newest Gucci purse, Brittney and I went over to the maternity store and looked around. I didn't find much that I liked since I didn't want to buy anything right now. I'd rather wait until the baby bump is bigger so that, at least, I don't feel fat. That was the thing, I realized. I didn't want to buy maternity clothes because I didn't want to feel fatter than I knew I already was. I know I'm fat, not the baby belly. If I didn't have my baby inside of me than I would be just as fat as I always has been since high school.

"I like your bag Marley." Brittney said, looking down at the white tote bag with floral designs on them. I had received them as a gift from my old roommate in New York junior year for my birthday. "Where'd it come from?"

"My in college. I got four of these. A Hunter Games tote, a Christmas theme tote, a cerulean one with my name written in cursive in the middle and kitty one."

"A kitten one?" Brittney smiled.

"Yeah. It's a black one with real life cat that's eating a bowl of noodles." I laughed. "It's really cute. My old roommate Kathy gave them to me. But I like this one the most."

The reason as to why I loved this one the most was because it was from Daddy, Mom and Ryder. While Daddy was gone and he worked at some crappy cafe shop and earned little money. Mom, before she died, had saved up some money to buy a gift for me. Ryder somehow managed to get the money Daddy and Mom saved and, with some of his, bought this floral tote for me as a late birthday gift from Daddy and Mom. I remember the card too. He wrote in the card, _Too Marley. Fяom Mom and Dad. Happy Birthday, Baby. _Of course I knew it was his writing based on the hand writing and his backwards R, but I loved it and appreciated it enough to believe it.

"I got something like that for Santana once. It was orange with onions on them. But before she got home Lord Tubbington took it and flamed it on fire." Brittney said.

"I think cats are out to get us."

"They probably are," Brittney said. She picked up from a rack a few shirts. "These look amazing, here!" She took one and held it up to Marley's torso. "This looks amazing on you!"

"I don't know." I said as I took it and gazed at at the green shirt. "I'm on a budget right now..."

"Don't worry. Sugar's paying for it all." Sugar said with a smile as she entered the store with Unique. "I love shopping!"

"Really don't." I said, but within a minute Sugar, Unique and Brittney were all over the store grabbing shirts, pants, skirts and many, many dresses as well as cardigans and bras.

* * *

Several store hours later I sat outside on the bench and was drinking a smoothie and eating my fifth mini-bag of cookies, and glad that the other three came out of the store. According to Unique, I now had over twenty dresses, ten shirts, five jeans, ten shorts and seven skirts. And all of that managed to fit in the five bags that were carried out of the store. How it happened was beyond me and I'll probably never figure it out.

"Unique says you're all set now, Mama Marley!" Unique said blissfully. God, I wished I had as much confidence as she did. I don't really feel like that all the time though.

"Guys really you didn't need to do that." I said. They've already done enough for me and I liked it, but I didn't want them to over do it. I wanted them to just stop and relax.

"Nuh uh. Nope, this was a shopping day for girls paid by Sugar. Now Unique here is going to treat us to a pedicure and manicure." Oh goodness. Call me girly but I actually don't like getting pedicures. I've gotten them done, but my nasty fat feet were disgusting.

"No girls, really. It's fine. I'm-I'm actually hungry—" _God, did I just say that? I just ate, like, fifty cookies with two peaches and a smoothie!_

"Well okay girl. Today's your day so let's go eat." Unique said. "Unique loves her chocolate donuts, let's get donuts." _Please, no, not junk food!_

"No, Cinnamon buns." Brittney said as the four of us walked to the cafeteria. "I love cinnamon stuff." _No, Brittney, anything but that!_

"I prefer something like ice cream." Sugar said. "Or cupcakes! They have that new cupcake place at the mall, where that muffin place used to be."

As the trio walked off, I dragged behind with my arms over my baby belly and my mind wandered off again. I began to sing, but I soon stopped and just took deep breaths. Maybe I just needed food, that's all.

* * *

While the girls were getting their own food and meeting back up at the table, I got in line at Sal's Salad's and waited. It was a self serve place that paid by the ounce, it was super neat and I loved it. I usually got the same whenever I came here and the price always came to five dollars.

Halfway into the line I heard a familiar voice from behind me. It was Theodore Cooper. I took a deep breath with closed eyes. I breathed out and turned to face Theodore. "Hi Mr. Cooper."

"Ms. Rose is so poor that you have to buy a salad by the ounce?" Theodore Cooper said. "Pathetic. And, wait, I remember, you're pregnant now so you'll be poorer than ever and you'll have to only have salad dinners by the ounce."

"I like salad's since I was sixteen." I told him, ignoring the insults.

"Would you like to meet my cousin's wife?" Theodore Cooper asked me. "She say she knows you from school. She lives in New York now, but she and my cousin are moving back here to Lima in three years once his business is off the grounds. They're here because of Mama G's birthday."

I was curious as to this cousin wife of his was and kept thinking, and hoping it was someone who was positive. The only cousin of his that I know is his cousin Aiken and Aiken is known to have only bright and positive girlfriends.

"My cousin Miller." He told me. "Miller's wife. Hey," He turned around and waved his hand. "Hey, Kitten, get over here!"

Kitten? What kind of name was Kitten?

"What!?" A voice exclaimed. Suddenly a short girl with blonde hair in a high ponytail came walking over and, as usual, looked pissed about something. The second she came over I know who it was.

"Kitty?" I was shocked. It had been years since I saw this girl at high school graduation. Well more like two weeks after when our friends and I went to California and stayed in a hotel in Los Angels that Sugar's dad rented out for the entire three weeks of us being there. But even then I didn't talk to her much. I, in fact, ignored her as she commented me on my weight again.

"Oh God," Kitty said the second she and I had eyes met. "It's like Adele when she was pregnant, but even Adele was thinner when she was pregnant. What happened here, Muddy hair?"

"What are you an idiot?" Theodore Cooper said to her. "She's knocked up for crying aloud!"

"Not surprised. She probably got artificially inseminated because no handsome looking guy would ever have sex with her in her life. So Virgin Marley, who's the baby Daddy? Satan?"

Before I could answer 'Shut up Kitty.', Theodore Cooper spoke again.

"No, she's married. Uh... Ryan Lynn, I believe. Got married last year to him and now they're having a kid."

The way Kitty turned to face me after he said that _killed _me. Her one eyebrow lifted up with that smirk on her face. I knew what she would say. She talk about my weight, my appearance how I married a loser, how I'm married to someone who (in her words: Can't even read the word 'one' without saying the word 'Non' as in None.') and how much weight I'll gain from being pregnant and how I'll never lose any of it.

Before I could even get a chance to leave she said, "Wow, I guess your baby belly will be bigger than Jessica Simpsons first baby belly—and she looked like she was giving birth to seven babies from her torso. But unlike you Jessica was still thin as hell and H-O-T-T and got thin within a month of giving birth to the baby. Sure she got pregnant again about four months later or so, but she sure lost the weight again a month later."

"Kitty, please stop. I'm not in the mood." I told her.

"Don't come crying to me if that dyslexic bastard come out and has the fat-ass gene from your side of the circus family."

That had done it. I felt the tears in my eyes come bawling out. I could easily block most of Kitty's insults as because I hasn't seen the girl in so long, she didn't feel so much. But now Kitty was attacking Ryder and I's baby. Our little innocent baby that has done nothing but do things in order to be healthy and grow.

She didn't stop there though. "I saw you earlier as you munched down loads of cookie calories and thought what a fatty. But now your not the only fat one. Now there will be two fat ones and the second one is sure to come out in a few months. The little fatty baby."

Honestly I don't know what came over me at the moment. I threw my salad on the ground, lifted my hand up, and gave Kitty a good bitch slap across the face. She screeched and I said, "How dare you insult an innocent little baby! God Kitty, what's wrong with you!?"

I didn't even let her finish whatever insult she had. I rapidly left the line and went outside where I hailed a taxi and got in and asked the driver to give me a ride to the park.

* * *

I got to the park, sat on the swings and cried. I sent a message to Unique to let her know that I had to leave quickly for a life support meeting. She sent me a message back that said she understood and that she would drop off the clothes at home. I stayed on the swings for a while, crying and talking.

"Baby? I'm sorry if you hard all of that today. Don't worry though, I'm going to hope that that mean girl stays away from you. You didn't do anything wrong. And your doing nothing wrong. You just keep doing what your doing and keep growing, okay? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine baby."

What I thought was seven at the evening, I walked back home since it was only an hour walk from the park and the light was still a bit light. When I got back I found Ryder putting some leftover basked ziti in the fridge. He looked surprised as if something had happened while I was out.

"Marley!" He said, shocked to see me. In a flash he had me in his arms and held me tightly, one hand rubbing the back of my head. "Marley it's late. I tired calling you, what happened?"

"I lost track of time I guess." I told him, weak in my voice from crying again on the walk home. "I went to the park—"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

He breathed in relaxation, "Oh good, that's what I wanted to know. What happened today?"

_Terrible day today. I ran into Kitty and she basically called our baby a dumb, fat bastard. _"It was fine." I smiled warmly.

"Life support?"

_Crap, I forgot to go to that! What do I say? make something sound true. Like... something...anything. Say something Marley!_

"Marley?" Ryder asked, looking at me.

_Marley Elizabeth Rose Lynn, say something now!_ "I.. I was fine before and after, but after I left and before I got on the bus I.. I got upset."

"Upset?" Oh great, Ryder sounded upset about that. "What about?"

"Getting the clothes. I know they're maternity, but they're so... big!" I told him. "So I kept saying 'Oh God, I'm so fat right now!' even though my heart was telling my brain 'Oh God, you're pregnant! Not fat!' I didn't mention it at the meeting but I didn't want to get on the bus yet. So I waited."

"Oh Marley."

"But it's okay, I'm feeling better now."

* * *

**Okay, stopping there because this is a LONG chapter. The next one will be this day, from Ryder's POV and I will finish the ending of this in that chapter.**

**Enjoy :)**

"


	11. Stress and Emotion: Ryder

**Here we go... DAH DAH DAH DAH DAHHHH I'M LOVING IT!**

**I DO NOT own Glee. If I did, then it would be Ryley and not Jarley. And Mike would be on the show because Mike is my favorite original New Directions/Glee character!**

* * *

About an hour of Marley had left to meet up with the girls at the mall, I ended up having to take the pups outside for their morning bathroom business. I'm surprised at Marley, she hasn't been taking care of the pups for a few weeks and, God knows why, it's probably because she's occupied with everything that is in her mind. Such as the baby and her body.

I wished I could get into Marley's mind. It must be so hard for her to be in something like this in her life right now. Her struggle to learn to love her body and know that she's the most gorgeous girl in the entire world and, to me, will be always and forever be beautiful to me no matter what... when right now, in her life, she has to gain weight. Gain weight to give birth to our healthy baby in the months to come.

Even before her pregnancy, I wished I could get into her mind and shake the sense into her. I would tell her she's the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen in my life and that I...worship her, in a way. The second I first laid eyes on her was back in high school for the _Grease!_ production, when Finn was telling me that the girl who auditioned for Sandy was Marley Rose. Marley happened to be standing close by and was speaking to Unique and when she heard her name she looked over, thinking someone had called her. She was wearing white short sleeve shirt with a gray cardigan and a green skirt with her favorite boots. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, that allowed me to see her homemade bottle cap earrings and her homemade bottle cap necklace.

I remember coming up to you the next day, you were wearing a brown short sleeve shirt, at your locker. We were talking with a small flirt about my end zone dances and how your Mom always gave me extra meatballs of spaghetti day. Then the bitch, Kitty, came up and threw insults at you.

I haven't seen Kitty since California when Sugar's Dad rented out a hotel, or was it a house? for a few weeks so we could all be in California. Us and the graduates of the original New Directions team. I swear if I ever saw Kitty again or heard insults from her about Marley, I'd slam her.

Damn. Marley's still as beautiful as she was back then. Even on our wedding day, I recall, she was just as beautiful.

* * *

_It was May 20 of last year. It was one of those warm Spring days where it was neither too hot or too cold, but very warm. The sky was clear of clouds and the grasses were green a the park. We decided to get married at the park inside the gazebo where I had proposed a year earlier. By the time all the bridesmaids (Sugar, Melody, Brittney, Santana and your cousin Skyleigh) have made it down the flower path lane and Maid of Honor Unique made her way down at the end, the bride music began._

_I turned down at the flower path lane where the others had just walked with their groomsmen, and found at the end of path was Marley. Your wedding day look was... indescribable. A white dress that was knee length dress, off shoulder with long sheer sleeves with white floral prints on the sleeves. I remember her wearing one of those long veils that reach down to the butt, that was given to you by your mother (several years earlier when she mentioned that she wanted you to wear it) just like she did at her wedding, and her mother before her, and the mother before her, and the mother before her, and the mother before her who's mother wore it as a gift given by the mother-in-law-to-be. It was like regular veil but with crystals and petals in random spots._

_Of course being Marley Rose you had your own thing too. Like white converse high top sneakers and instead of a necklace, you wore the black tie that your father wore at his own wedding too. I thought was a smart move and, overall, respectful to your father's presents. You even told me that while Mr. Schue walked you down the floral lane, "Mr. Schue may be like a second father to me as he is to just about everyone in Glee club, but I felt my father holding me in my other arm and smiling."_

* * *

You were the most gorgeous of that day than any other day. I just wished she felt like that everyday and not feel so ashamed of herself. I know I say to her everyday that she's beautiful and wonderful, but I feel like she doesn't believe it. I'm not giving up on Marley though. I know she can fight through all of this and will eventually be happy with her life.

Yes we had ups and downs from this problem that I wish I could literally get inside and help her with. Such as our wedding night before, and after, we gave our virginity she was worried about how she looked or how she would feel afterwards. Took me about a half hour each time to convince her that everything would, and was, alright. Or that summer when we went to Sugar's pool party and it took her about twenty minutes to go swimming in bikini she had bought a few weeks earlier. Or a month later during our late honeymoon in Hawaii when I woke up to find her puking.

I stopped Marley, literally having to pull her away from the toilet and hold her tightly in my arms. It was then, minutes later, she told me that she's been force puking for months now. Since a month after graduation from college. How did I not know about this? How? The second she told me that I told her, on the outside, that everything would be alright and that we would get through this like we've always did. But the inside, my heart cried and shattered into billions of pieces.

We found the support group when we came back from the honeymoon. At least she started to get better for a while. I mean sure she's messed up a few times and made herself vomit a few times. But we're human and she's learning to still learn to care about herself. I do believe that at the end of the day as long as Marley is happy, I'll he happy.

After a while I got bored from, attempting, to read these pamphlets and this book called _"Pregnancy, Eating Disorders and You."_ I'm not sure if Marley had read these yet or not and I think she should. They're very detailed about the progress of the growing child, what develops each month and everything else. But also from what I could read there were difficult of a pregnant woman with an eating disorder.

Premature labor, low birth weight, complications during labor, respiratory problems. The worst ones I read were miscarriage and stillborn. Honestly reading that part of the book was depressing me and took me to a whole new level of worry. What would happen if Marley went into labor early? What if the baby had a low birth weight? What would happen to Marley and the baby during labor since Marley's still kind of at a low weight? What would happen to Marley if we lost the baby? She'd lose it, that would happen. Marley would lose her mind—depressed, blame game on herself, she might make her bulimia even worse than it already is or has ever been (she might even go anorexic, she's been like that a few times!) She... Oh God, I don't even want to think any of that right now.

* * *

To take my mind off that for a while I somehow ended up dong her laundry. Marley calls me lazy when it comes to laundry? No I'm not lazy, I'm just to lazy to actually put clothes _in_ the basket whereas Marley is too lazy to actually _bring the laundry down_ to the basement to do the wash and also to lazy to bring the basket back up, and put away in her wardrobe. She's always been like that and I've grown to learn with having to bring the laundry down, do it and, half the time, put it away.

Along the run of putting her clothes in the wash I picked up one of her cardigans and saw a paper fall out. I threw the cardigan in the washer and picked up the paper. I opened it and recognized the writing as Marley's. I leaned against the washer and attempted to figure out what she wrote. About an hour later I managed to figure it out by copying each letter from her paper and wrote it down in my own handwriting.

I read it and smiled. I was happy with Marley, she was actually being really serious with this pregnancy knowing her condition. And with all these doctor appointments and life support meetings she's going too, I should probably stop worrying so much since she seems to be handling everything right now. I still wished she let me come to these doctor appointments with her but I want her to feel comfortable and if that means not coming to the appointments, then I will respect that. Same with her lift support meetings, I'd wish she let me come to those too. Plus also I liked Wilson, he's a funny guy and can make Marley laugh as much as I do.

I thought for several minutes, as I finished putting everything into the wash, before smiling as I grew an idea. Something to surprise her that she'd probably wouldn't expect. I'll make her favorite dish: Baked chicken broccoli ziti alfredo, or Baked Ziti as she calls it. Although I keep explaining to her there was a difference.

* * *

Two and a half hours later the food was ready and it was already six. Unique came by earlier and dropped off some off the shopping bags with maternity clothes and explained that Marley left in sudden minute. I brushed it off and said she had a life support meeting.

Usually these meetings last until five and from the usual bus schedule, Marley would be here a little past six. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Half an hour passed and her phone was off when I tried to call her. I waited a while longer, getting a bit worried about her whereabouts. I ended up re-heating the food again just to pass time and as the food re-heated I let the pups out into the fenced up backyard to do their business. All that ten minute business and Marley still wasn't here.

It had to be another two hours, so like nine-thirty, when I tried calling her for the twenty-fifth time. I gave up and, sadly, began to worry again. If she wasn't back by ten fifteen I was going to call the cops. I packed up the ziti and as I opened the fridge, the door opened and Marley walked in. She looked fatigued and frail, but boy was I happy to see she was physically okay!

"Marley!" I exclaimed in shock, happiness and relief. Quickly I dropped the container of food and grabbed her into a tight hug, using one hand to rub the back of her head in a soothing way. "Marley it's late. I tired calling you, what happened?"

"I lost track of time I guess." She told me. From the weakness of her voice she had probably been crying on her way back home. "I went to the park—"

"Are you okay?" I asked, knowing she had been crying and worried about why she was so sad.

"Yes."

I breathed in relaxation, "Oh good, that's what I wanted to know. What happened today?" Maybe she would tell me.

She remained mute for a few minutes, staring at me as if she had seen three heads on my shoulders. "It was fine."

"Life support?" I asked. Maybe something happened at the meeting and she was thinking about it on the way home.

She kept quiet again, as she processed her thoughts. After a minute I asked her again. "Marley?"

Finally she said, "I.. I was fine before and after, but after I left and before I got on the bus I.. I got upset."

"Upset?" I got concerned, easily told through my voice as my face dropped. "What about?

"Getting the clothes. I know they're maternity, but they're so... big!" She told me, my hear sank. "So I kept saying 'Oh God, I'm so fat right now!' even though my heart was telling my brain 'Oh God, you're pregnant! Not fat!' I didn't mention it at the meeting but I didn't want to get on the bus yet. So I waited."

"Oh Marley." I said, feeling terrible right now. How can she feel like this? Why can't I literally shake the sense into her?

"But it's okay, I'm feeling better now." She smiled with some confidence. "So, what'd you do today?"

"Laundry, some reading and made dinner for us." I said, pulling her towards the counter. "I thought you left me for Disney."

"Well Walt Disney did make a chemical potion that would make him looked the same age I am now. And since he's been out for a week and moved here to Lima I have been falling for him." She laughed at me.

"Too bad he hates Jewish people. Jake and Puck are screwed." I laughed. "I bet your hungry, right?"

"Not really." You told me, but from the look on your face I could tell that you were starving. From the look on my face you quickly added, "I'm starving!"

I re-heated the ziti and we sat down at the counter eating. We didn't talk much, but once halfway done I turned and found you reading the book from earlier. Your face was soft, frail and depressed. You gave a huge sigh as you turned the page. From the quick page movement I saw that you were reading about complications (premature birth, low birth weight, stillbirth, ect). Glaring between the book and you I grabbed your hand and smiled confidently. Almost saying with the look on my face 'You're alright, we're alright, everything will be alright.'

* * *

Around ten thirty you were going through the bags showing some of the clothes to me. I liked them all, but I liked the dresses the most. Not every girl I knew could pull off a dress with boots and converse sneakers and I knew you could pull these off.

Around eleven or so, in the middle of the late night news reports, you laid against me with your head on my shoulder and breathing slowly. I just gawked at you and watched with a smile on my face. You glared up and sat up when you turned to me. "What?" You looked puzzled. Slowly I reached for another book on the table, flipped a few pages, and stopped at a chapter entitled _Sexual Positions During Pregnancy. _We both grinned, turned off the television, and went upstairs.

* * *

**Haha! I thought it be kind of cute to end the chapter like that! I liked it, as we got to see inside of Ryder's mind some more.**

**What do you guys think? Are you all enjoying this so far?**

**Next few chapters will be intense!**

**~ Ember411.**


	12. A Disturbing Discovery: Part 1

**Hola. I've been saying that a lot lately. Hola. Well because all of you are so awesome I've decided... to add another chapter to the story.**

**I hope you like it.**

* * *

Just a little over a month went by. Marley was now four months and 2.5 weeks along, with a pretty big belly. Big enough to be wearing maternity clothes now, but now that August was here Marley was a bit more comfortable wearing these long sleeved clothes. She felt a bit awkward still though and most days, she wished, she were as thin as she was when she was a month along, but still as far in the pregnancy as she was now.

One thing she loved doing with her baby was music. Marley sang to it everyday and, when not singing, had music on in the background and she'd tried to be as quiet as possible. A few times she's put headphones on her belly and she'd have the other end attached to her IPOD. She had no idea if that music theory, the theory that music makes babies smarter, was true or not. But she loved having her baby listen to music.

The last appointment she went too was when she was told she was pregnant. After that she skipped her appointments by either making up some sort of excuse or letting the machine take the call and her deleting it afterwards. Luckily though, Ryder wasn't home whenever this ever occurred and therefore hadn't suspected a thing.

Everyone had been asking about the gender; Ryder being one of them. He was kind of pushing Marley to take him along to one of these appointments that, in reality, she had never been too. But this was reality and she was having a hard time facing it. She knew she would eventually have to tell Ryder everything that's been going on with her during this stage of her life.

Her skipping and lying about her whereabouts when she was suppose to be at the doctors. Her skipping and lying about her whereabouts when she was suppose to be at life support. And worst, she was having a hard time keeping a promise. She had promised her little baby that she'd get as much help from Ryder, life support and the doctors as possible—she's skipped and lied about and to all three. She'd promised she'd stop puking by force, but she continued to do so. Since the day that Kitty insulted her weight gain (about three days after she had insulted Marley at the mall), Marley had forced herself to puke.

But it wasn't just Kitty. Marley had been eating nonstop for several days and she...felt disgusted with herself. She loathed every bite she took and she loathed every calorie she took into her belly. But she was so hungry. The baby, hungry. She went back to her old eating habits; eating and waiting about fifteen minutes so that the baby would get food and then she'd go and shove her fingers in the back of her throat. The acid that burned her throat killed her. She cried, afterwards, about her actions. Yet she kept doing them.

Ryder didn't notice about her actions at first. At first she seemed fine as usual, but after a few days he had noticed that she physically didn't look good. Frail hair, frail face, frail bones... she just seemed so frail and weak. A few times while she was standing up speaking to him or someone else and he was next to her she would be fine one second, then feel dizzy in the head and have to sit down. He'd have her sit down and drink whatever liquid was nearby her and just relax. She would, but her frail and weakness still made him feel worse. He had asked her a few times if she was alright, but he knew the same answer. _I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine_.

Over the past few weeks Marley and Ryder had been intimate with one another. Not that they weren't before, but lately a lot of times they have been. Finding new sexual positions as Marley's belly grew, the deep love and passion that grew each time. Even if they didn't have sex and just laid in bed together in their underwear and talked all night or until Marley, and usually ninety-nine percent of the time Marley, fell asleep. But whenever Marley got up the next day, or later in the night whilst Ryder was asleep, she stay up and think about what she had done. _I'm big. I'm too big to continue this, yet I love it so much! But I'm so frigging HUGE!_ She's thought this thought too when she took a shower and glared down at her huge baby belly.

* * *

One night around one in the morning Marley was wide awake. At first she was too hot so she pulled her hair showered wet hair back into a messy bun, but the bun was annoying her. So she took it out, got up from the bed and changed out of her regular pajamas and put on one of Ryder's dress shirts that was large and oversize on her. She got back into the bed, but still felt uncomfortable. She sat up in the bed, rubbing her forehead.

She knew what she had to do. She didn't want to, as she had done so before she went to bed around eleven at night.

Marley got out of the bed and found her way out of the room, down the stairs and into the bathroom. It was there she turned the light on and her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness from the lights. Once adjusted to the light she went over to the toilet and got to her knees. She lifted the seat up and glared down at the clear water, taking note on how clear it was now and how will be full of greens and yellows in a second.

She placed her hair behind her ears and the rest as far in the back as possible. She held her head over the toilet, breathing deeply, and held up her index and middle finger. She placed them both in her mouth and shoved them back—deeply.

She puked. The acid flames burned her throat. She gagged loudly as she felt everything in her stomach come back up, feeling that half of it was already digested and in it's liquid form. That odd feeling you feel in your nose after you puke is what she felt in her nose right now. But at the same time that she was feeling miserable...she felt, confident. And strong. Like she had control of herself, like she's always been since high school.

She stopped for several minutes, to take breath. For the second time she shoved her fingers down a little bit deeper, but not deep deep down. She vomited for several seconds, wanting everything out of her system out.

She felt a kick from behind. In a worry, she thought it was Ryder. She turned, pale and shocked, but... found nobody. She was shocked and stopped for several seconds, trying to relax again.

She went back to puking, for the third time. It was in the middle of this when she heard the door slam open and a voice called out.

"Marley!"


	13. A Disturbing Discovery: Part 2

**Part 2 of "A Disturbing Discovery."**

* * *

_Before walking in..._

Ryder was perfectly asleep, snoozing away into a dream world. Usually he was dreaming at night and lately his dreams were about his and Marley's future children. They all looked exactly like Marley, every five of them. That's something Marley and him talked about. Five children in total. And all of them had her eyes, her hair, her face shape, her nose, her ears... everything on her.

He woke up once, hearing Marley get up. He didn't hear the door leave and minutes later she was back laying in the bed. He brushed it off and went back to sleep.

Minutes later, he heard her get up again and leave the room. He had no idea what she was doing but figured it was her going to the bathroom. She had to urinate a lot lately and went almost every ten minutes.

He fell back asleep for what felt like ten minutes minutes, but was awoken from a violent shake. He shot up in the bed, thinking it was Marley, but found no one in the room. He turned the light on to double check and found nobody. He was just about to go back to when he heard a noise from downstairs. He sat up again and kept mute to listen again. He heard it again. It sounded like...

Someone puking... by force.

Ryder jumped out of the bed and ran down the stairs. He heard her stop. He thought that she was done and he decided to wait for her and be ready to talk to her. _I know it happened this time._ He thought to himself. _I heard her puke this time and I could tell by the gagging sound. Marley has that specific sound when she sticks her fingers down her throat._

After a minute of silence, Ryder was just about to call out her name when he heard her puking again. He ran over to the door, slammed it open, and saw the horror.

Marley, his love, his wife, his pregnant wife, with her head over the toilet, fingers in her mouth and tears streaming down her face.

"Marley!"

She heard him, but shoved her fingers back further and forced more food from her stomach and into the toilet. She wanted to finish this up before Ryder would force her.

Ryder didn't let her. Instead he ran over and grabbed her wrist with one hand and with the other free arm, he wrapped it around her (above the baby belly) and pulled her away from the toilet. He leaned up against the bathtub, having Marley sit up against him tightly and closely, now using both arms to keep her from moving.

"Shhh Marley, shhh... it's okay," His voice wasn't angry or bitter; his voice was soft and concerned, almost close to tears. He wiped away some of the tears coming down Marley's face as Marley continued to sob harshly. "Shhh, Marley... it's okay. Marley, it's okay. You didn't throw up so much."

Marley remained quiet for a few minutes. Then, in a sudden, her emotions got the best of her. "I hate being pregnant!" She screeched, but still crying. "I hate this! I hate how I'm not thin, I hate how I can't fit into my favorite clothes! I hate how this baby is making me eat so much! And I hate how I can't eat without knowing I'm going to be a fat-ass after I give birth!" Then, without thinking her of actions and her words, she glared down at her baby belly and, holding it in her arms—very still— she screeched. "I hate you!"

"Marley!" Ryder was shocked at her last statement. "Marley, you don't mean that!

"Yes! I! Do!" She screeched again, getting louder and louder, her voice cracking and hot tears rolling down from her cerulean eyes. "I hate this pregnancy and I. Hate. This. Baby!" She nudged Ryder in the chest, causing him to let go of her and grab himself, and Marley got up in a second. "I hate this baby!"

"Marley! Stop screaming, it's not healthy for you—or the baby!" Ryder said loudly in a clam voice. "Marley, please, try to relax."

"I can't!" Marley cried out, huffing and puffing. "How can I relax when I know I'm going to end up like... like...my mother?"

"Marley..." Ryder's voice drifted off.

But Marley kept crying, "And I don't just mean about how big she got... I mean... she ended up being the town joke...she died from a heart attack that was caused by her weight."

"Her weight didn't kill her Marley—"

"It did in a way, Ryder!" Marley cut him off. "It didn't exactly kill her but it did help in a way to kill her! I'm going to die from a heart attack if I keep gaining this weight!" She cried, falling to her knees and burying her hands and bawling and sobbing deeply into them.

For the next five minutes Marley stayed in her position. Ryder was looking down at her, depressed and heart broken that the girl he loves is... disgustingly miserable. She shouldn't feel like this and yet she is, and she's playing the blame game on herself. He knew in his heart Marley didn't mean what she said to their baby, she's not the type of person to do that. Marley was looking down at her belly, not her baby belly, her regular belly (if that makes sense to anyone, lol!) and was saying 'I hate you!' to her belly. Sure, she said baby a few times, but she didn't meant it.

Ryder, after a moment of thinking, went on his knees and held Marley in a tight hug. He rubbed her back and was humming lightly. Slowly he pulled away, but kept his forehead against Marley's forehead. "Marley. Marley, sweetheart, listen to me."

Marley glared up, the whites of her eyes were blood red from crying so hard. Her face red and puffy and sniffing her nose.

"Marley... you're wonderful. You're the best person in the world. The most compassionate, passionate, caring, sweetest, loveliest girl I've ever met. Marley I love you. I've loved you since the very first day I saw you. The very first day we spoke, before Bitchy Kitty ruined everything. I loved you so much that when I found you in the bathroom on the night of _Grease_, head over the toilet and fingers in your mouth, I was... depressed. I stopped you, or so I thought, and I knew at that moment you needed me. Marley, you needed me and I was always ready to help you." Ryder's voice was cracked, as he went deeper. "Marley you struggled, but I loved you through it. i love you through college when it took the worse on you. I loved you after college. Marley It's_ you_ I love, not your body."

Marley stopped crying a little, but tears were still down her throat.

"Marley when you got sent to the hospital in the middle of senior year in high school, my heart broke. And those seven times in college—Marley, the last pass out you had you were almost sixty pounds and were in a coma for two months." His voice cracked again. "Do you have _any_ idea how_ hard _that was for me? To be, basically, alive and living an active world, when the love of my life is deeply sleeping, nearly dead, and have to be fed via feeding tube and have that oxygen hose in your nose?"

Marley broke down in tears again, realizing and remember how much pain she had caused him, and everyone else closer to her, but mainly Ryder.

"Marley if I could take this pregnancy and make it any easier than it already is, or could be, than I would. I would take your baby belly and all the weight it has and place it on my torso." He said. "I would. I do it in an instant, just to make life a bit easier than you. But Marley," Ryder wiped away some of her tears.

Marley sniffed, then notice something. For the first time ever in her life knowing Ryder she saw him do something he never saw. Ryder was crying. Tears down his face, sniffing his nose, and breathing deeply

"We're living in reality. We're not in some fantasy where the story ends happily. We're living in reality and what comes with that is issues we have to deal with. In my case it's my dyslexia, in yours it's having to deal with body images. I'm not stupid, I just have a hard time reading. You, Marley Elizabeth Rose-Lynn," He gave a huge grin, as his eyes shined in bliss. "Are amazingly, magnificently, magically gorgeous."

Marley smiled, and cried. Now crying for happiness.

"I love you Marley." He said. "I love you and I just want you to be healthy and blissful, cheery, and be the same magical girl I knew in high school."

Marley nodded, fully crying in happiness. "I'm crying because I'm happy, not sad, so don't worry." She laughed. She then looked down at her baby belly and smiled.

"Baby? I hope you weren't awake during that. But if you were, I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry Baby." Marley sniffed, placing her hands on her huge belly and rubbed it a little bit. "I love you Baby. I love you so much, since the day I found out about you—and even before that when Daddy and I made you—please don't be mad at me Baby. I love you so much Baby, please don't leave me. You know what I'm going to say now," She giggled. "Keep doing what your doing Baby. Don't worry about me, I'll deal with everything else. Just keep growing inside of me."

Ryder, smiling, placed his hands on her belly too. "Hi Baby," He said then laughed. "Honestly I'm talking to Mommy's belly, it's awkward. Here's a deal with you; you grow and I'll take care of Mommy. How's that?" He waited a few minutes. "It's quiet, so they don't have any opinions and therefore agree with me. Oh my god!"

"What?"

"I called it, It." Ryder exclaimed. "Marley, we need to find out the sex soon!"

"Because..." Marley asked with a smile.

"I need to know if I have to buy sport protection gear for him," he then smirked. "Or buy a chastity belt for her."

They both laughed loudly for several minutes after that. The two of them stood up and hugged tightly. His arms around her waist and rubbing her lower back and her arms wrapped tightly around him with her head on his chest. They both breathed deeply, letting their tears subside and letting everything in the past go away. They pulled out, but still holding each other tightly, and leaned in for a kiss. They kissed for several minutes.

Until Marley pulled back in a sudden movement. She stopped, glaring off into space.

"Marley?" Ryder was puzzled. "You okay? What's wrong?"

Marley didn't say anything. She just grinned, and glared down at her baby belly. She faced up to Ryder still smiling. She took his hands from her back and placed them on her baby belly and forced his hands to rub her belly for a few seconds. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Until Ryder felt something.

He faced up back to Marley, who was grinning from ear to ear, with shiny eyes full of tears. "It's kicking." He said.

"Yeah." Marley said. "Now I _really _can't believe I'm pregnant!"

The two of them smiled as they left the bathroom with the lights turned off and back into bed, both of them having one hand on the baby belly and feeling their child push them once in a while. Awaiting a new day in several hours.


	14. A Truth: Part 1

**Yey! We're at a favorites of mine :)**

**QUESTION: I wanna use a few songs in upcoming chapters. I have a few picked out for some, but are there any other songs that I should use?**

**Leave me the song title and artiest in the review please.**

**Thanks... here we go!**

* * *

Two weeks later Marley was just about five months pregnant. As she got use to not walking around so much because of her huge belly, she had been attempting to eat. But... she struggled. When she was at work she would avoid eating food and she would sit by herself and just hum a song or, while the baby listened to music via headphones, Marley would be reading a book. Not a book related to her pregnancy, just her favorite novel series. _The Hunger Games. _She's read the entire series seven times now, saw the movie twice in theater and bought the DVD a few years ago.

When she was home, though, she ate very little. But she didn't let Ryder know any of this, as she had managed to keep him from thinking she wasn't eating enough. Although she didn't care so much about his opinions because she had learned from him that their scale worked perfectly fine.

_A Few Weeks Earlier..._

_Marley, for once, was going to do her laundry. When she managed to get down the stairs, she saw Ollie and Odette run to the back of the basement into one of the extra spaces they had. She went after them both and found the scale. Marley, through her intelligent mind, could tell it wasn't broken._

_Ryder came home and when he did he found Marley, in the living room, standing on the scale with her arms crossed and looked angry. He just stood there, dumbfounded. "Care to explain why you lied to me?"_

_Ryder was mute for a minute before explaining his reason. "Marley I didn't want you to worry about your weight."_

_Marley glared at him for a few minutes, eyeballing him, until she smiled in foreignness, got off, and hugged him. "It's fine," She said. But she faced him and with a serious face she said, "Don't ever lie to me again."  
_

_"No lies to each other." Ryder smiled, hugging her._

Marley smiled as she remembered that night. Though she felt disgusted with herself, lying to Ryder... for months! Even though they both lied to one another, hers were more terrible than his. At least his was for her health. Hers was because she was disgusted with herself.

One night the both of them were lying in bed. They did nothing, no sexual activity, no speaking, just staring at the ceiling. And it was Thursday night too.

Marley felt Ryder's weight shift to his side and a second later, felt his hand rubbing in her hair. "I know your awake."

"Yeah." She said. Suddenly her stomach roared. "And hungry." _Stupid stomach! Stop it!_ She thought.

"I know," His voice dropped a little. "You didn't eat anything at breakfast or dinner, is everything okay Marley?"

"Just really hungry," She said. "Do we have anything to heat up?"

"No, food shopping... Saturday." Ryder said, leaning down and kissing her nose. "How about a date tomorrow night? BreadStiX's then a movie?" He leaned down and kissed her mouth.

She smiled afterwards. "We haven't gone out for a date since two months before we conceived Baby here." She leaned up and kissed him. "BreadStiX's and a movie later. Oh, and Ryder?"

"Hmm?" He asked, leaning back down and laying close to her, almost right next to her.

"I've got names picked out." She said. "Two for a boy and a girl."

"What are they? And they better not be related to _The Hunger Games_," He said, noting that Marley was very obsessed with that book and film. "You nearly named our dogs... I forget... Katie and Peter."

"Wrong names. And I've picked... Katniss Primrose and Peeta Mellark—"

"Nope, not happening." Ryder laughed.

"Jennifer and Josh." Marley smiled, hoping that Ryder wouldn't notice the connection.

"Only if they're not named after Lawrence and Hutcherson."

"Poop you." Marley said, then turned around. "But really, I've picked out some names... so far Mimi, Sera, Joey and Mark."

"Benjamin for a boy and Violet for a girl." Ryder said, yawning. "We've got a few months though, so i'm not too concerned."

* * *

The next day around three, Ryder got home. After settling a movie and a time for the film, the duet got ready at four thirty and were finishing getting ready. Casual, nothing formal. So Ryder finished early. Marley, however, was stilling looking for something. She wasn't picky with clothes usually, but she wanted to make sure that what she picked out didn't make her too big, or too thin that her baby belly stuck out and made it look awkward. She settled on a knee-length orange dress with a white long sleeve, flowly cardigan and, of course, her favorite boots.

The duet arrived at BreadstiX's, got a table and ate with nothing to bother them. Unless you count someone kicking Marley every fifteen to twenty minutes.

At the Lima Theaters, Ryder went up in line to get the tickets for them as Marley waited in line to get food for herself and Ryder. Large popcorn, black licorice for Ryder (why did he even like those? Nobody likes those!) As she stood in line she was humming a song she had heard on the radio the other day. She hummed as she kept going up in line. It wasn't until she felt a tap from behind and turned, finding Isabelle, Rebecca and Mary-Alice.

"Marley!" Isabelle screamed blissfully, jumping on her and hugging her. "Where have you been?"

"I've been busy," She said. "And some personal problems... nothing related to my eating though." She lied. "What about you girls?"

"We're seeing a movie with a group from life support. Kyle, Edward, Abe, Arthur, Peter and Janelle are here too." Rebecca said. "For once I'm glad the guys from support group showed up. Both at the meeting and to this."

"We have guys in the group now?" Marley asked.

"Yeah, they joined about a month ago." Mary-Alice answered. "If you had shown up."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. Are you alone, want to join us?" Isabelle asked.

"No no," Marley smiled. "I'm here with Ryder."

"I swear to God, I think that's a terrible name." Rebecca said. "He sounds like someone who loathes their first name and changes it. Like, I have a cousin named Owen, and he changed it to Blazer five years ago. I keep calling him Owen and he keeps screeching at me and telling me that it's Blazer. Hell no, I ain't calling him Blazer. It sounds like someone who uses a damn drug." She laughed. "Have you and What's-His-Real-Name picked names yet? And don't tell me it's from the fucking _The Hunger Games. _I have another cousin, Elisa, who named her twins Charlie and Esmé, because of the Twilight series."

"I wanted too," Marley laughed. "So, what's happened in life group so far?"

Over at the ticket line, Ryder was humming along to the show music that played on the speaker as he waited for the mile long line to move. He knew he should have called ahead and save to tickets for the movie, but his little constant thinking mind wasn't thinking at the moment. It was wondering what was taking Marley so long to get ready. It's not too hard to find something to wear, now that she had the maternity clothes, and Marley wasn't the type to take so long.

He heard from behind him a familiar voice. "Leslie! Hey, Leslie! I'm in the damn line getting the tickets now so wait for me at the other line!"

Ryder turned around and found Wilson behind him. He smiled. Wilson, puzzled, held his hands up in defense. "Hey buddy, I'm straight."

"Wilson it's me," Ryder said. "Ryder."

"Rider? Rider who? Matthews?"

"No Lynn."

Wilson glared at him for several more minutes before laughing. "Oh damn, R_y_der Lynn! You look like this guy I work with, though his name has an I. Where the hell did your parents come up with the Y? And or that matter, why did they give you that name? It sounds like your parents couldn't figure out a name, or you hate your real name. Any siblings like that?"

"Three brothers and a sister; Tym, Danyel, Wylliam and Mavys."

"All the I's into Y's too?" Ryder nodded. "Damn, your parents were on meth or cracker. How's Marley?"

"She's good." Ryder said. "I'd wish she let me to those meetings though. I've never been to one since she started."

"I'd wish she come more often. Last one she came too was, I dunno, when she said she was pregnant." Wilson said. He turned and said, "Hey Leslie."

Leslie, a 4'8 little Asian girl, came over and joined them. "Hi Willy."

"Hey, this is Ryder Lynn. Husband of Marley, you know, the pregnant one." Wilson said.

Leslie turned to Ryder and said, "Oh yes. She sounds amazing."

Ryder didn't even notice Leslie standing there. He just kept glaring at Wilson as if he had said something wrong, which to Ryder, he did say something wrong. "No she's been going."

"What?" Wilson asked.

"Marley's been going to those meetings. She comes back every time and tells me what happened. She's never missed one since we learned of the pregnancy."

"Ryder, she's been absent the entire time." Wilson said. "Actually Leslie here is the receptionist at the doctors place."

"Oh, Marley Lynn!" She said. "She's never been to a doctors. We've called but eiiher never heard back or there was some excuse. Oh, and sorry about your mothers death."

"My mother didn't die!" Ryder exclaimed, angry. "And Marley's gone to these appointments, she's told me. She's never lied to me before...okay a few times, but nothing as bad as _this!_ I mean, these two things she needs in life are important right now, now that's she pregnant. She needs life support to get... support through everything and the doctors to make sure she's healthy and the baby is healthy...and...and..."

The expressions written on Leslie and Wilson's faces haven't changed. Ryder notice that their faces stayed as they were, concerned and puzzled. They weren't lying. Ryder now knew this.

When Wilson and Leslie left, Ryder turned and found Marley standing and talking to someone.

"Why Marley?" He asked bitterly. "Why?"

* * *

**Uh oh! Ryder's mad! What's he going to do now? Well.. until next time my little friends.**

**Please remember to mention a song that I can possibly use!? Thanks!**

**Read and review please**

**~ Ember411.**


	15. A Truth: Part 2

**Oh snap! I uploaded again! And... I'm sorry it's taken SO LONG to update, can I ever be forgiven?**

**At end of chapter I have to tell you something ironically funny!**

* * *

Ryder stood in line for several minutes. Glaring at Marley from the distance, his eyes bitterly eyeballing her with every step she took towards him. By the time she got close to him, he was already showing the anger in his face. Marley, not noticing at first, smiled.

"Hey I got the food." She said. "Popcorn to share, that disgusting black licorice you like, skittles for me and a big cup of Dr. Pepper to share." She looked up, now seeing Ryder's annoyance on his face. "What's wrong?"

Ryder didn't move. He stood there, breathing heavily, trying to calm down.

"Ryder?" She asked, a bit puzzled. "What's wrong? Did you not like Dr. Pepper?"

"Do you not like Dr. Lavery?"

"What?" Marley asked, now a bit more puzzled. "Ryder what are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Ryder said, handing her a single ticket he had bought her, as well as the ten dollars in change. "See the movie then take a cab home."

"You're seeing the movie with me." Marley said. "I'm not going alone."

"I'm not seeing the movie. I'm not staying at all." Ryder said, bitterly. "And actually eat the damn food, Marley. Don't put your fingers in your mouth."

With that said, Ryder turned around and basically ran out of the theater. Marley stood there, dumbfounded and puzzled, as kept glaring at Ryder. However when he didn't return, Marley dropped the food container box and left rapidly to go after Ryder outside.

* * *

Outside Ryder was walking away from the movie theaters. He was halfway down the street when he heard Marley's voice called out for him. He turned and found Marley jogging towards him. He gave her some respect, moving towards her so that she didn't have too far to go.

"Ryder, please, what's wrong?" She asked, worried written on her face. Ryder ignored her. "Ryder!"

"Marley... I can't talk to you right now." He said, turning around.

"Ryder... what did I do?" She asked, puzzled.

"You've lied to me Marley. That's what." Ryder said, hurt written in his voice. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I've never lied." Marley lied.

"Oh.. so seeing Dr. Lavery's assissent person inside was a mind game?" He asked. "Or Wilson! I saw Wilson too!"

Marley stood still, shifted her weight to the other side.

"Marley... why haven't you gone to meetings? Or the doctors, for goodness sake!"

"I... I can't bring myself to go to them, Ryder." She got a little emotional. "I can't go and know that my weight is getting bigger—and that's its OK for me to be gaining this weight! And I can't face the others who basically had difficult pregnancies and conceiving."

"Marley, you need this." Ryder said, his eyes wide and expressive. "You need this, Marley. More than ever right now. Marley you know I'm right, correct?"

Marley stood still, nodded, her eyes bawling.

"I don't need help though," She said. "I've got this under control. I don't need help from the doctors or from life support meeting—I've under control."

"Marley you need help." Ryder said, "When you're pregnant you need medical help when you're pregnant! You need prenatal vitamins! You need to make sure your healthy, I need to make sure your healthy! We need to know that the baby is healthy! Marley, what if there's something wrong with the baby?"

"What are you getting at!? Is something wrong with the baby, do you want something to be wrong with him or her!?" Marley flipped.

"No! And that's my point Marley! What if there's something wrong, that the doctors will be able to tell from that baby-sonogram thing! Marley we need to know if there's something wrong with our baby!"

Marley cried out loudly.

"Marley I'm not saying something's wrong, I'm sure our baby is fine. But Marley... you need to see a doctor. You also need to see life support group." He said, clearly and slowly for her.

"Life support isn't as important as the doctors."

"I say otherwise." Ryder said bitterly.

"Can you speak a little gentler, please? Do you think this is easy for me to share? Do you think I wanted you to find out this way? Coming out of other peoples mouths than my own?"

Marley cried, standing up and her face buried into her hands, as she sobbed loudly. Ryder wanted to comfort her, but he was still too bitterly annoyed with Marley to do anything with her.

"Marley, listen to me." Ryder said, in a soothing voice. "I gave to you."

Marley looked up and found him.

"I've offered to come with you to life meetings. I've offered to come with you to doctor appointments. Do you have any idea as to what this pregnancy means to me? this isn't just your health that I'm worried about, Marley. Now I'm constantly worried for the sake of the baby. Our baby!"

Marley stood there crying.

"Marley, I understand that this is complicated for you-"

"So why are you mad at me?" She asked through her tears, sobbing.

"Marley I am not mad, or angry." Ryder told her. "I understand this is complicated for you. That's why I haven't gone to appointments with you or support meetings. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. But I had given everything to you. Everything- I've listened to you when you cried, I have made excuses for your behavior when people asked if you were alright. I haven't harassed you much on your eating habits. You were eating, only a few times I made you eat more because you weren't eating at all or you didn't eat enough on the plate. Like that day when you skipped breakfast and dinner and I found out later that you skipped lunch."

Marley stood there and stayed quiet. She knew Ryder was right.

"Marley I have offered everything I could do for you. And if there was something, or is something, you need that I can't do- guess what? I'll find a way to do so. Because I love you Marley. I love you," His voice cracked, almost in tears. "Marley I don't want to see you in the hospital again, not like a few times in the past. If something _ever_ happened to you that put you in the hospital again, that'll _kill _me. If... If something happens to our baby, that'll _kill_ me!"

Marley stood there sobbing. She looked up at him, her face red and puffy with hot tears down her face. "Ryder, please..."

Ryder sighed, looking at her with disappointment, and shook his head.

"Marley this pregnancy is a nightmare for me."

"Oh and it not a nightmare for me too " she snapped. "Ryder I can eat, but most days I don't want to because I don't see food. I see calories! I see calories that'll make me fat."

"Remember what I said the other night? You'll never be fat to me. Ever. You have control of your life."

Marley stood there, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry Marley," he said with great depression in his voice. "I-I can't look at you right now. I need to blow off this steam."

With that said, Ryder turned around and left. Even as Marley called for him and walked a little towards him he still did not turn back.

Marley kept calling for him, crying his name out. Apologizing. "Ryder I'm sorry! Please Ryder... Don't go, please! I-I'm sorry Ryder."

* * *

Marley stood there, bawling her eye out still and gasping for air. She didn't know what to do now. Obviously not the movie theater, but not home either.

her second home was the best option.

She hailed a cab. Once in the cab and the driver asked for the address, Marley said "McKingly High School"

* * *

**So.. what's going to happen now? Stay tuned for a new chapter, coming to Fanfiction!**

_**Ironically Funny: In one of my classes we read this book called **_**"The Brimstone Journals." _and in it there is a character called _Kitty_, who makes herself _anorexic/bulimic_ because she thinks she's fat._**

**Kind of ironic, right? Ha, just thought I share that.**

**_~Ember411_**


	16. Will I Lose My Dignity?

**Hey guys. So the next few sentences are going to be me RANTING about things, then the story. Feel free to ignore the rant, but I suggest you read the GLEE part of my rant.**

**RANT:**

**I blame school (high school and college process) for this hectic schedule.**

**Also the recent episode of GLEE "Feud", not really my favorite. They make Ryder look like an asshole. If they wanted to make him an ass, they should of done it from the start. But no, just 1 episode and now he's (back) to being the fluffy muffin we all love. **

**And although I'm glad Marley and Jake made up, I'll still ship Ryley. And I'm glad Jake and Ryder made up to be the bromance again. And those bitches chasing Unique/Wade down the street... I'd throw rocks at their head. And Kitty was a bit... odd... but whatever, I'm ignoring her entirely.**

**Okay, here's the story!**

**P.S: Where Marley is sitting is the place**** where Blaine danced to ((and Santana put the purple piano on FIRE lol)) _It's Not Unusual_ during lunch in Season 3)**

_Italic Lyrics Is Marley  
_**Bold is Ryder**_  
_

**~ Song: _Will I (Lose my Dignity) _from the musical _RENT! _So I suggest you listen and read along to the song.**

* * *

Five to ten minute later, after crying in the taxi and trying to avoid eye contact with the driver of the taxi, Marley arrived to the front of McKingly High school. She got out and glared at the school. She missed coming here; seeing her friends and singing songs and having an adventure here. She felt totally normal and was free to be herself here whereas her other schools she pretended to be someone else. That is, until they found out about her financial issues and who her mother was and they completely locked Marley out of social clubs and activities.

She walked around the school premises for a while, arms crossed over her chest as she recalled all the memories in her head from the three years she had spent here. She crossed by a row of windows that allowed her to see inside the cafeteria. She saw the doors in the back that lead to the kitchen, she stopped and glared at the windows. She started thinking back to her Mom and all the fun they had. Marley usually came to the kitchen and helped her mother with the food for lunch if she had nothing to do in class, or if she had free period. They would laugh and talk about some fun things they did. Usually about Glee class relationships drama, songs and of course Marley's school academics. She remember telling her mother about the first time Ryder asked her out. Well, more like the second time.

_"So you know how I already promised that we could watch that movie you like?" Marley mentioned to her mother as she passed over the corn oil for the brownie batch. "Can I break that promise, for a good reason?"_

_"What reason would that be?" Millie Rose asked, smiling at Marley._

_"Ryder asked me out to the movies on Friday." Marley smiled, brightness shining in her cerulean eyes. "We're going to see the re-release of his favorite movie, which also happens to be my favorite musical that we saw once at that local theater company back in Cincinnati before we moved here."_

_"Rent?" Her mother smiled._

_"Yes. I'm so excited!" Marley smiled, giggling. "But I have no idea what I'm going to wear. This isn't our first official date, it casual, but I wanna look nice." She thought deeply about the little clothing she had._

_"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find something." Her mother smiled._

Marley smiled, tears welled up in her eyes as she finished the memory. Her mother had bought Marley a new outfit. A cream rose printed sundress with a long sleeve, long flowly light pink cardigan and cream headband. Marley loved it, not knowing it was from their rent money to go and buy Marley a new outfit. For about a month they were in debt with their water bill, leaving only cold sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But her mother had made her happy and wanted Marley to have the best of everything that was given to her.

Marley, sitting down at the outside lunch tables stairs and glared up at the sky, watching the starts shimmer every few seconds or so. She smiled, the tears from her eyes rolling down her cheek.

"I told you that day you didn't have to buy me that new outfit. That I had plenty of clothes from the closet. I know it was little clothes, but I would of found something. But you smiled and said,_ 'Marley, this is your first day with your first boyfriend. It had to be a special outfit.'_ I laughed and said Ryder wasn't my boyfriend, but you claimed otherwise." Marley laughed.

She glared down at her baby belly. Smiling and rubbing her child, hoping it was asleep now. Marley glared back up at the stars. "Mom, I'm... so messed up. I wanted Ryder to know about... well I mean... the way he found out, it shouldn't of happened. I think he's only mad because of the way he found out. I believe that if I had told him, if it had come from me, it would be... less painful. Mom, I hope I'm doing a good job. I know I've been talking to Baby more than you, and I'm sorry about that. But... I don't want to lose Baby. I want Ryder and I's baby to be born; let them grow and share the things I've learned from you to them. Please don't let anyone take Baby away."

She took a few deep breaths, listening to the wind speak to her.

* * *

Inside the school, Ryder was in the auditorium, walking around in a circle. This was his second home in high school. Usually he be in the choir room, but it was locked. So he stayed in the auditorium and walked around.

He wasn't mad or angry at Marley. He was just upset. She lied to him. Sure, she's lied to him about when she ate a meal and when she didn't take a laxative pill. But this was major. Not only did he have to worry about Marley's health, but he had to worry about the baby. Their unborn baby. Their little child they made and now Marley was carrying for a few more months. He wanted them both to be healthy and the only way that it would work was if she went to her life support meetings and doctors.

Marley had said that life support wasn't important as the doctors. But to him, it was equal. He knew for a fact that the other women who were in the group had almost similar problems like Marley when it came to conceiving and carrying a child while having an eating disorder, and that those women would help young Marley get through everything.

He sat down on a chair on the stage; rubbing his head as he relaxed. He took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes and going back to a memory of Marley and him. It was the summer of junior year going to senior year...

_Ryder and Jake ran down the halls, no backpacks on them as they didn't feel like bringing them to class, with water guns. Shoot water at one another and laughing, not caring who was around in the empty halls._

_"Lynn! Eat this!" Jake shot water at him._

_Ryder dodged. "Aim better, Puckerman!"_

_Jake shoe again, but missed Ryder. Ryder had ducked down in time to not get hit. He went back up and threw his water gun at Jake, hitting him in the head, and running away as fast as he could from Jake. He ran down a few halls as Jake chased after him, but Ryder dodged behind a locker and waited until Jake passed him. Once Jake was gone, Ryder came out of the locker stand and made his way down the hall. He only paused when he saw Marley at her locker, grabbing some of the books from her locker._

_She looked amazing. Ryder had seen Marley wear skirts before, but never shorts. There she was in jean shorts with a peach shirt, brown headpiece and her favorite boots. Ryder snuck up behind her and poked her side, causing her to scream and laugh. "What's funny?"_

_"You poke me!"_

_"Proof?"_

_"You poked hard, I might have a bruise!"_

_"Liar." Ryder said. He quickly grabbed Marley by the waist and threw her over his shoulder, causing her to laugh and scream at the same time. He lifted up her backpack, closed her locker, and proceeded to carrying her out. Neither of them noticed or cared that the Cheerio's or other sporty teams were giving off glares at them._

_"Ryder! Put me down, please!" She laughed hardly._

_"No, you called me a monster."_

_"I did not!"_

_"You said I poked hard, and that you might have a bruise! That's calling me a monster!" Ryder claimed, jumping up and down as he went down the hall, causing Marley to laugh harder with each jump he did._

_"No, Ryder! I'm going to get sick! I had a big lunch—and for once too!" She said._

_"Nope." Ryder said as he made his way to the parking lot. He got over to his car and placed Marley down. He then placed his arms on each side of the car, trapping Marley in the middle, and leaned his forehead against hers. "You going to apologize?"_

_She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry," She said, leaning in for a kiss. Ryder leaned in and kissed too. He then made his way to her neck and kissed there. "That you're a huge monster!"_

_"WHAT!?" He laughed._

Ryder laughed as the memories died down. He loved the old days and the way they were. They were still like that, but they've hard their problems. He just wishes Marley would get better. He glared up at the ceiling and sighed. "This pregnancy... it's a nightmare."

* * *

Outside Marley was walking around the tables as she kept glaring down at her baby belly. She looked up and glared at the sky, still shimmering. "This pregnancy... my relationship with Ryder now... God, this is a nightmare."

(Glee: That random moment when music magically starts to play!)

_Marley_  
Will I lose my dignity?  
Will someone care?  
Will I wake tomorrow  
From this nightmare?

**Ryder:**  
Will I lose my dignity  
Will someone care?  
Will I wake tomorrow  
From this nightmare?

_Will I lose my dignity_ **(Will I lose my dignity?)**  
_Will someone care_? **(Will someone care?)**  
_Will I wake tomorrow_ **(Will I wake tomorrow.)**  
_From this nightmare_? **(From this nightmare?)**

**Will I lose my dignity** _(Will I lose my dignity?)_  
**Will someone care?** _(Will someone care?)_  
**Will I wake tomorrow** _(Will I wake tomorrow.)_  
**From this nightmare**? _(From this nightmare?)_

_Will I lose my dignity_** (Will I lose my dignity?**)  
_Will someone care?_ **(Will someone care?)**  
_Will I wake tomorrow_** (Will I wake tomorrow.)**  
_From this nightmare?_ **(From this nightmare?)**

**Will I lose my dignity** _(Will I lose my dignity?)_  
**Will someone care**? _(Will someone care?)_  
**Will I wake tomorrow** _(Will I wake tomorrow..)_  
**From this nightmare?** _(From this nightmare?)_

_Will I lose my dignity_ **(Will I lose my dignity?)**  
_Will someone care?_** (Will someone care?)**  
_Will I wake tomorrow_** (Will I wake tomorrow.)**  
_From this nightmare?_** (From this nightmare?)**

* * *

As the song came to an end, Marley got on the bus and sat down in the middle row. She looked down at her baby belly, rubbing her and Ryder's baby. She smiled, faintly, and sighed.

"Baby? I'm sorry if you heard Daddy and I earlier. I... We... Didn't want to argue like that, but life happens. I really hope you didn't, but if you did then I'm sorry Baby. I'm not sure how long Daddy will stay mad at me. See when Daddy gets angry, he's really angry. Last time he was angry with someone he didn't talk to them for weeks! I hope he isn't too mad at me. But don't worry Baby," Marley smiled as she rubbed her baby belly. "Like I'm always telling you; just keep doing what you're doing and leave the rest to me."

ON the other side, Ryder was walking home. Hands in pocket he took a huge sigh and looked up at the night shimmering back at him. "Mrs. Rose? Mr. Rose? I'm not mad or angry with Marley, so please don't get mad at me. Do me a favor though and help Marley with this? I'm helping her as much as I can and once I calm down, in a few days, then I'll help her more than ever. But for now can you help Marley?"

* * *

**Awww, Ryder asking for help from Marley's parents. I didn't even plan that, it just came to me at the last minute.**

**I love the musical RENT. The music is fantastic, the songs are unforgettable, the characters are unforgettable and the message is too. (I love Collins and Angel the best as a couple!) I SUGGEST that if you haven't seen RENT... GO WATCH IT!**

**Read and review**

**~Ember411.**


	17. Anger, Pizza, Cookies and Pain?

**Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. I can't believe I'm a little over half of 100, I'm so damn happy! I'm dancing, but I suck at dancing, lol! I need Mikey!**

**p.s Mikey is my nickname for Mike!**

* * *

Over the course of five days, Marley and Ryder had not spoken. Ryder looks at Marley although she can tell from the look on his face that he was in pain, in his heart, knowing that Marley had lied to him from the start of this pregnancy. She thought he was being a bit ridiculous, she understood that he was angry with her.

Ryder was _not_ angry with Marley, nor was he mad. He could never be mad or angry with her, he loved her too much to stay bitterly annoyed with her. He just couldn't stand the fact that she had lied to him about health problems. Sure, there had been some times when she's force puked and skipped meals and she lied. He got over it within a few minutes, but now there was another life in the way. A life, growing inside of Marley, who needed it's mother to stay as healthy as possible in their condition so that they will be able to grow and be born with no health problems.

Marley had skipped meals. She's making herself more sick and worse, but she couldn't help it. She was depressed, not really depressed though, just down in the blues. She was usually alone at lunch time, being at work, and therefore didn't eat anything but instead kept herself busy with work or talking to someone.

She ate very little when Ryder was around at the house. Ether it was a meal either of them made or ordered, usually on the nights when Ryder burned the food and Marley didn't want to make food. She ate half of the food and just poke the rest of the food, thinking to herself. If she got up Ryder would hold her arm with his hand and just say "More Marley." but in a bitter tone. Marley would eat, but after eating three fourths of the entire meal she tried to get up again than Ryder would grab her arm once more and say, "A few more, Marley."

There was only one day when she didn't want to eat anything. It was Wednesday night, the fifth day of not speaking to one another. Marley, clad in her grey long sleeve pajama shirt and plain sky blue pajama bottoms, watching a movie on television. She felt miserable and weak and wanted to sleep, but she didn't feel like sleeping. The doorbell rang, a door opened and closed after a minute, and within five minutes Ryder walked in with a slice of pizza on a plate in his hands. He stood next to her, holding the plate next to her and waiting for her to take it. She glared between the pizza and Ryder for several seconds, before shaking her head and turned back to the t.v.

Ryder stood there, pushing the plate a little her way, hoping she'd take it.

"Marley take it," Ryder said. She shook her head again without even looking at Ryder. "Marley you _need_ to eat."

"I'm not hungry." She lied.

"Haven't we had enough lies already?" Ryder asked, making his point. "Come on Marley, eat the pizza."

"I'm. Not. Hungry." She made her point, bitterly stated.

"Marley you barely ate anything at breakfast. And I know for a fact you didn't eat anything at work so I want you to eat this." Ryder said, pushing the pizza towards her more. Marley shook her head again. "Marley, you _have _to eat this."

"No, I don't." She said.

"Marley you do realize you're carrying a baby, right? A child? A human that survives on the food it's mother _eats_. Right?" He said, still trying to make his point across. "Come on, eat the pizza."

"I don't want to eat the pizza." Marley said.

"Fine, what do you want? Cereal? Pasta? Grilled cheese?" Ryder asked. "Chinese? I'll order and pickup the Chinese food."

"No... I'm not hungry." Marley said, getting a bit annoyed.

_Pregnant women and their hormones!_ Ryder though, thinking about how he read that women are more hormonal during their periods and during pregnancy. "Please Marley, eat something."

"No, I'm not hungry."

"What if Baby's hungry, huh?" Ryder asked.

"... Baby isn't hungry." Marley said, after thinking of what to say.

Ryder, bitterly annoyed now, grunted with annoyance. He tossed the plate on the coffee table that was in front of Marley and said, "Marley, you _need_ to _eat_ something. I want you to eat something_ before_ bed, okay?"

"Thanks Dad." Marley bitterly said, glaring at him with a bitter expression, then turned back to the television.

Ryder stood there, with a 'Really? You just said that to me?' expression written on his face. **(A/N: Think of _The Role You Were Born To Play_ after Kitty insulted Marley... that facial expression he was given the entire time during the insults).**

"Wow... Thanks Marley. Thanks a lot." He said as he turned around and walked away.

* * *

Marley sat there for an hour watching the end of the movie. Her stomach growled, needing food. She didn't want the cold pizza, but notice earlier that Ryder bought some of those delicious cookies she loved. She got up from the couch and made her way to the kitchen, knowing that Ryder left a few minutes ago to walk Ollie and Odette.

She searched around for several minutes before finding them in the very back of the cabinet. She took the package, opened it at the end, and took four out. She bit into one and fell deeply in love with them. She took a second bite and finished off the first one. By the middle of the second one, she took out a few more. By the seventh one she took out five more. It wasn't until she was in the middle of her tenth one when she heard the door open again and eight little legs came running inside.

Ryder joined in the kitchen a minute later. He looked up and saw the cookies he had just bought for the seventh time now. Every time he's going to drive pass his brother's house on Saturday, heading to work, the cookies have been gone. He assumed it was the dogs as Marley loathed them. Now watching her eat them, and half the package gone, he put everything together. _Well at least it's better than eating soap or dirt. Food cravings._ However he gave a small smile and said, "Good."

Marley glared between him and the cookies for several seconds before putting them back in the slot and started to put the package away. Ryder stepped over quickly and said, "No, go ahead. Eat them. Really, I don't care."

"No, I'm good." She said, handing them to Ryder and left.

Marley went upstairs to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. At one point whilst brushing her teeth she pushed her toothbrush to far in the back, having to reach for her back teeth, and it went to the back of her throat. She made a noise that made it sound as if she puked, only to get some of the toothpaste from the back of her throat to come out.

The bathroom door opened and Ryder stood there, a startled expression written on his face. Marley looked back at him, startled too. She made an angry face and asked, "What are you doing? Spying on me?"

"No, I just—"

"You don't trust me." Marley said, taking the cup of water and rinsing her mouth as Ryder tried to explain.

"Marley I do trust you. I just... Well I heard..."

Marley spit out her rinse and glared at Ryder in annoyance. "You don't trust me!"

"I do!" Ryder exclaimed.

"Then as soon as I made that... gargle vomit sound, why'd you come in!?" Marley angrily questioned, anticipating his answer.

Ryder stood there, wordless. He did trust her, he honestly did. After what happened at the movies he was one hundred percent sure that Marley had stopped. So tonight she didn't eat and held up an argument, at least she ate. So he totally trusted her when it came to Marley keeping the cookies in her. But he had no words to explain.

"I... I uh..." Ryder started but got lost in his words.

Marley angrily walked passed him, arms crossed over her chest, as she nudged his chest. She went into their bedroom and took his pillow. She came back out and shoved it at him, walking to a closet where extra blankets were kept. As she searched for one that he could use, Ryder tried to explain himself.

"Marley I trust you. I just... I just freaked for a second." Ryder explained. "Come on... Marley, we have a guest room. Why are you acting as if I go to the couch?"

"Because... I don't want to be on the same house story level as you!" She said, giving a terrible reason. "Here." She shoved a blanket to him.

"Marley... come on." Ryder said. "I'm sorry, alright?"

Marley ignored him and continued her way to the bedroom. She closed the door and locked it, only to unlock it as quietly as possible. She hated locking doors because she felt that if something were to happen, the emergency assistance people would have to get it.

* * *

Several hours later around three in the morning, Marley woke with sudden pain in her lower back. She waited it out, her face cringed up and biting her mouth to keep her pain inside. After several seconds it passed.

She woke again ten minutes later, this time the pain harder. She sat up and held her lower back for several minutes. She held back the tears as she took deep breaths, slowly breathing in and out, as the pain subsided. After two minutes the pain subsides.

Marley waited five minute before going back to sleep. Twenty minutes later she woke with the pain again, this time a bit harder than the last one. This one Marley couldn't hold back the pain, she made a little small screech as she took deep breaths. Her eyes opened in a sudden.

_Am I in labor? I'm too early for labor! The baby isn't ready to be born! _She rapidly thought to herself, as the pain lingered a bit longer.

As Marley's mind kept wondering if she was in labor or not, the pain subsided again.

Marley relaxed, thinking she wasn't in labor. That was until a minute later when she felt pain again. She made a small screech again. This was the same as the last one. She needed a doctor now. What if she was in labor?

"Ryder!" She screeched loudly, holding her lower back. "Ryder! Ryder! Ryder! RYDER!" She screeched the last one as the pain hit her again.

Within two seconds Ryder was up the stairs, still dressed in his black sweatshirt and his blue jeans, but looked as if he had just woken up. "What?" He asked, before noticing the pain she was making in her face. He was at her side rapidly, taking one of her hands and holding it—seconds later she was squeezing it. "What? What's wrong, Marley?"

"Hmmmm... I'm in pain!" She screeched. "It.. It hurts!"

"You're not... I mean... it's early to be..."

"I know! I know!" Marley flipped, as the pain subsided once more. "Okay, it's gone...Ryder?" Her eyes were full of tears, her voice was weak and holding back a knot in her throat. "Ry?"

"Yes?" He asked with concern.

"I wanna go to the hospital." She said. "Right now, this happened several times already... I wanna see if everything's okay."

"Okay, we'll go." Ryder said, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket and called for a taxi. "You getting dressed?"

"I'm throwing a skirt on..." Marley said as she got up slowly. The pain again came, but much less pain then before. Like the first time. "Screw the skirt, I'll leave in this with my slippers."

The taxi came minutes later. As the two waited to arrive at the hospital, Marley had some more pain than before and held his hand tightly. Ryder just held tightly and kept praying that everything would be alright.

* * *

**Uh oh! What's going to happen now!?**

**~ Ember411.**


	18. Hospitals and Forgiveness

**I did an update, Yey!**

**Recent Glee Episode: Guilty Pleasures: ** It was funny, Sam and Blaine's Bromance was cute. But, um, Artie...Kitty... 0_0 ?! I want a Arm Cuddle thingy, that cute! Until Brody's true character came out, I liked him and Rachel. But, eh, they broke up. THE girls bashing on Jake's choices, HAHA... I cringed though when Marley and Jake kissed... and I'm still cringing.

**But now we have to wait until April 11 for the next episode!**

**Okay, well here's the story. So excited to be writing this :)**

* * *

Marley and Ryder made it to the hospital, where Ryder was sat down in the waiting room and Marley was taking to the emergency room. Ryder, worried his brains out, paced around the room as he waited for Marley to come back out. About twenty minutes went by before Marley came back out. A faint smile on her face, but still weak. Ryder was at her side in a moment and took her hands in his.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

Marley nodded, "Braxton Hicks."

"Braxton Hicks?" He was puzzled. "What's that?"

"Fake labor. They're not contractions, but very similar to them. They usually don't happen this early, but like this one guy who happened to be standing there said: Every pregnancy is different."

"So," Ryder smiled. "Your okay? Baby's okay?"

Marley nodded. "Yeah. I have to get a few things checked on me, but... I'm fine."

"Good." Ryder said. "Do you need anything? Anything at all?"

Marley looked at him for a few minutes, giggling a little. "Just one thing... if you don't mind."

"Anything," He smiled.

"You know that bagel place down the street, the 24 hour one?" She smiled. "I could really use a french toast bagel with cream cheese and a chocolate milk. At least, we can get it on our way home because I'm starving and want some."

Ryder smiled, leaning in and kissing her on the lips. He pulled back, with his forehead against hers, "Anything for you, Miss Marley."

Ten minutes later, after waiting for Dr. Harris to come in and check on them, Dr. Harris came in with a clipboard and pen in hand. She was writing something down as she came in.

"Feeling better?" She asked bitterly. Marley had been told by a worker earlier that Dr. Harris was a bitter doctor; one who took their job seriously and was, well, a bitch.

"Yes." Marley answered, playing with her long hair that has grown since June. It was now three inches under her _'chest'_, where as before it was right at her_ 'chest' _"I feel a lot better."

"Well like Owen said, every pregnancy is different from one another, but usually Brax don't happen this early." She stated. "Mrs. Lynn, your low on weight. _Very _low on weight, I hope you know that."

Marley bit her mouth. She hates knowing how much she ways, but she wanted to know right now. "H-How much do I weight?" She asked, biting her mouth harder than before.

"Understanding the circumstances of your health issue and the last time you were weight, about three months ago at the last appointment that you had- the one where you discover the pregnancy- you were told to gain a little bit more weight than an average expecting woman."

"So..." Ryder said, bitterly annoyed with the doctors attitude.

"You should be around one thirty, but instead your one eighteen." She said.

Marley took deep breaths to breath, holding back the tears. "How is it that the baby's big then?"

"I'm not sure. You're anorexia and the weight gain don't match up perfectly-"

"I'm not anorexic," Marley stated. "I-I have bulimia."

Dr. Harris glared at her, puzzled. She looked down at her clipboard and flipped a few pages. She shook her head, "I'm sorry, you say bulimia?"

"Yeah, got a problem?" Ryder asked in a bitter tone.

"Mrs. Lynn, you said you were anorexic." Dr. Harris said.

"When?"

"When you found out you were pregnant. That paper you were given? You wrote down anorexia."

Marley thought for a second, then realized what she did. She was arguing with herself at the time if she wanted to write down her bulimia or not, and they suddenly called her in. She must of wrote down _anorexia_ in stead of _bulimia._ Silly and stupid her.

"Of course, I wrote the wrong thing down." She said. "I wasn't thinking and wrote the wrong answer."

"Well... at least you _are _eating something, and not completely starving yourself." She said, again in an attitude.

Ryder, not wanting to yell at Dr. Harris in front of Marley and not wanting to deal with the attitude she was showing, kissed Marley on the cheek and said he'd wait for her outside. As soon as was behind Dr. Harris, who was looking at her clipboard again, Ryder (who got Marley's attention) pointed to Dr. Harris and stuck up his finger. Marley chuckled, hiding her lugh behind her hand. By the time Dr. Harris turned to see what she laughed at, Ryder was outside the door.

* * *

Five minutes passed, Marley came out with a few pamphlets in her hand and her jacket in the other.

"You like her, don't you?" She grinned at Ryder.

"Oh yeah, I loved her attitude towards you the entire time. The bitch." Ryder said, ending it with a whisper so Dr. Harris didn't hear. "So is everything okay?"

"Yeah, the usual. Keep eating, try not to puke. Get weekly weight checks with the doctors and at support group." She said.

"You ready?"

"One more stop, down the hall." Marley said. "Ultrasound."

"Ultrasound?"

Marley smiled. "Yes, we can see the baby."

Down at the hallway in a room, Marley laid on a bed with her shirt lifted up to show her belly. The ultrasound woman put that jelly-gooey stuff on her belly, took her tool thingy and moved it around Marley. She pointed to a t.v screen and said a few seconds later, "That's your baby."

Marley and Ryder looked at the screen. There, on screen, was a little thing laying on it's back. It looked like an alien, with it's hands up and kind of curled into a ball. The ultrasound pointed out that the baby was facing the screen, pointing out the eyes and nose. Marley had tears in her eyes, looking at the little thing inside of her. She looked back at Ryder, holding her hand out.

Ryder held her hand and tightly gripped it, as he watched the screen again. The ultrasound person put headphones on Ryder and in a second Ryder felt the heartbeat of the child, seeing as where the ultrasound person pointed to where the heart was. Ryder grinned, still not believing that this was real.

"Ryder," Marley's voice weakly said, "That's our baby... it's so tiny." She said as tears left her eyes in happiness.

"Little alien freak," he laughed. "Totally my side of the family."

"How do you know?" She asked, looking at him.

"Look at the shape of the head, that's my head. My brother's heads. My sister's head. My father's head. His father's head. His father's head. His father's head... that's as far back as we've ever went." Ryder said. "It's a Lynn head."

"Would you like to know the gender?" The ultrasound woman asked. "Your far enough to know."

Marley and Ryder glanced at one another, smiles on their faces, as their eyes made conversation and answers.

"Could you write it down for us?" Marley asked.

* * *

About twenty minutes later once everything was settled, Marley and Ryder were in the taxi and heading back home. Both decided to take the day off and relax. Once back home the two of them called in, and once done, went back to bed. Ryder was halfway asleep when Marley turned to him.

"Ryder?" She asked. From the sound of her voice, Ryder could tell Marley wasn't so tired yet and was full of energy. "Are you still mad at me? I mean, are you not angry with me anymore?"

Ryder sat up a bit and looked at her. Her eyes were curious but sad, with a puzzled expression written on her face. His face, too, was puzzled.

"Marley... I have never mad or angry with you." He answered a few seconds later. "I could never be mad at you, or angry."

"You were at the movies..." She said.

"I was upset. I know I act like that when I'm upset with someone or something, but... it's the only way I handle it." Ryder told her, scooting closer to Marley. "Trust me. I know this isn't easy for you."

"I'm sorry," She said, looking at his neck and not his eyes. "I shouldn't of lied."

"I lied too, about the scale. And for bursting into the bathroom earlier. I shouldn't of done that. Marley I trust you," He said, using his fingers to lift up her chin so they were eye-to-eye with one another. "I trust you." The way he said it and the expression on his eyes made Marley smiled.

"I love you." She said.

"I love you too." He said, kissing her on the lips. "Get some sleep now."

* * *

**Awww that was so sweet! I loved it!**

**I probably won't update again until Friday, when it's the only day I'm free, as I'm finishing school work. (Boo school!)**

**~ Ember411.**


	19. Names

**Wow, did U just update _before_ Friday? Wow, where did I find the time!? This is just... insane. ****Yet again, I just wrote this chapter because I was debating whether or not to write it down. I decided to do so, and thus, why I've uploaded earlier than Friday. But I still have a chapter settled for Friday, so don't worry about it and don't forget about it.**

**Am I normal? While I go figure that you, how about all of you enjoy reading this and letting me know what you thought of this chapter.**

**P.S I apologize for the minor swearing in this chapter. It just happened.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Marley, now near the end of her five months of pregnancy, laid about on the couch with Ollie and Odette at the end of her feet, cuddled together and sleeping, as Marley read some of the books and pamphlets given to her. She was in the middle of her third one when she got a headache and rubbed her temple, trying to control her headache. Several minutes passed before her headache had passed and she continued reading the pamphlets. Fifteen minutes passed before her eyes tired out from reading. She placed the pamphlet down and looked down at her baby belly.

It was huge, the average size of a five month going onto six months belly, but not the size of carrying sextuplets at a long month. She smiled, pulling her shirt up a bit and started to rub her belly. Seconds later, she could see either a hand or a foot glide over her belly. She laughed as she felt them kicking her lightly.

"Keep kicking me. Go ahead, I'll just take away that new I-pod I was going to get you for a late Christmas gift." She said. The kicking almost stopped after that. "Oh? So you _do_ want the I-Pod?"

She hummed softly as she continued to play with the baby by pushing her fingers against her stomach and rubbing, waiting for baby to play back with her. She thought deeply for several seconds as she thought of names in her head. Later when Ryder would get home from work the two of them over grilled cheese sandwiches and burned black toast would discuss child names. Something Marley has been anticipating but, yet again, find it difficult.

Several hours passed when Marley heard the door open and close a minute, with Ryder walking in a few seconds later taking his jacket off. "I hate September."

"Why?"

"I go to the store to get pens, because we're always loosing them here, and freaking parents are running around with their kids getting school supplies. I hate parents."

"You're going to be one in several months," Marley smiled as she rubbed her belly.

"Trust me, I won't be one of them. They're all over the place and screaming at their kids, just about all of them. Only me and three other parents were calm, and those clam parents children were fine. The others... oh shit... all over the place. Marley! One of them peed on me!"

Marley laughed. "H-How!?"

"I don't know!" Ryder exclaimed, now laughing and sitting at the end of her feet (as Ollie and Odette jumped off earlier to greet him at the door). "How's everything?"

"Okay," Marley said.

"Doctors? Life support?"

"Next week for doctors. Life was cancelled today." Marley said. "I'm going to work until I'm nine months, then I'm on leave from the day baby is born until April."

"Four months?"

"LimaStarr's amazingly generous." Marley said, pulling paper out of her pocket. "I have names!"

"That's why I went to the store after work. Pens run away from me and I can't write my names down." Ryder said getting up and walking towards Marley. "I'll be back with the names and food."

"I left the grilled cheeses on the counter, jut heat them up." Marley said.

Fifteen minutes passed when Marley heard Ryder scream. "Shit!" She glared over at the doorway to the kitchen. Ryder stuck his head out and quickly said with a smile, "Everything's fine! I've got this!"

Five minutes later Ryder walked in with two bowels of cereal in each his hand and a paper in his mouth. He handed one of the bowels to Marley and as soon she took it, with a suspicious look on her face, Ryder took the paper out and said, "So, I somehow burned the sandwiches in the microwave..."

"How?" She laughed.

"Marley, look, I'm not good at making food. If you, God forbid, ever die when our kids are young than they're buying lunch for the rest of their school years. I'm not risking burning the house down for small food."

"Alright, I guess I won't die anytime soon." Marley said, pulling her list out again. "So let's go in alphabetical order."

"Boys I've got Amos and Avery." Ryder said.

"Amos?" Marley asked, remembering her father's middle name. "As in, my dad?"

"Why not? Sounds like a cool name." Ryder said.

"I wrote Amos down too. But, Avery?"

"Be quiet." He smiled. "B's?"

"Bryan."

"Brody."

"As in, my cousin Brody—the crazy one who drove a truck into a bank while drunk?" She laughed. "Or like Rachel Barry's ex-boyfriend man sleeper?"

"Alright, Bryan. What about C's?"

"Connor."

"I've got Danyell, with a Y, and Dexter."

"Danyell, sure, not Dexter." Marley said. "Kurt and Blaine are giving their son that name."

"What? When were they pregnant?" Ryder asked puzzled.

"In February, with a surrogate. They just called and told everyone today about the babies. Twins, boy and girl." She said. "Marcus Dexter Hummel-Anderson and Brooklynn Elizabeth Hummel-Anderson."

"That takes away Elizabeth and Marcus..." Ryder said. "Next?"

"Erik or Ethan?"

"Ethan, definitively Ethan.

"Freddie?" Marley asked, continuing the list. "Or Freddy, with a Y?"

"IE. The 'Y' still scares me shitless." Ryder laughed, recalling _A Nightmare on Elm Street._ "Gives me the creeps. Grant?"

"Garry."

"Second choice?"

"Gabriel."

"Fine, but no Gabriella for a girl."

"Aww. Fine." Marley said, laughing. "So much for my great-grandmother's name being passed on."

"Hunter! I've loved Hunter since I was a kid."

"I'll allow Hunter... if we go Heath."

"Ledger?" Ryder asked with a cocky smile written on his face. "How dare you! Name our son after your celebrity boyfriend.",

"I promised Heath I'd name a baby after him. Sadly our son will have the last name Lynn."

"Hey, at least the surname begins with a 'L', the your boyfriends name." Ryder laughed. "Next two letters I have... Jude and Keith."

"Agree!" Marley said. "Lawrence."

"Not—"

"Larry as a nickname, not after Jennifer Lawrence." Marley added quickly.

"Mitt." Ryder said, smiling.

"Nickolas... and yes, after my Dad. Because the spelling's awesome."

"Owen."

* * *

Twenty hundred names later, or so it felt, the duet had picked out all the boy names. Now was the girls names.

"Ava." They both said at the same time.

"Belinda. I've loved Belinda since I was a little girl." Marley said.

"Charlotte. Classic, uncommon in Lima area and goes good with the name Violet." Ryder smiled. "Daria?"

"I was thinking Daisy. I love Daisy."

"Daisy Rose?" He laughed.

"Oh ha ha!" Marley laughed loudly. "That's so funny, like I've never heard that before. A lame coy on my maiden name. Just for that there will be no Evangelyna, with a Y."

"Good. Evangeline the actress, from that show Lost, was terrible."

"You didn't even like the show!" Marley exclaimed.

"It was confusing!"

"Because you started to watch it in the middle of season two!"

"So?" Ryder said. "I still didn't like it. Just like how we jumped over a few of my names; Dextra and Effie."

"Dexter," She reminded him. "And Effie reminds me of_ The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants_. I didn't like what she did in anger, angry with her sister for always choosing the sisterhood instead of the actual sister, and doing what she did before leaving for Greece. But, I do, like the names Fiona and Hannah."

"Fiona and... Jaclyn." Ryder smiled. "And Katelynn."

"Katelynn Lynn?"

"What?" Ryder asked. "It's funny."

"Klarissa?"

"Mavis, who will not be exactly named after my sister but more of an old friend of mine's cousin who..." Ryder stopped in his memory. "Never mind."

"Mavis did what?" Marley asked.

"Mavis... uh... she gave me a hickey my neck..." he said, now noticing the expression on Marley's face. "Okay, so...maybe not. Matilda?"elia

"Nancy."

"Ophelia, like Shakespeare."

"She committed suicide." Marley said.

"When?"

"In the middle of the play or at the end."

"Which play? Their is a play? What's it called?"

"Hamlet. And... Olivia."

Twenty names later they had Penelope, Pia, Rainy, Remy, Sherry, Theresa and Winifred. Now it was Victoria and Violet.

"Violet, it's a pretty name and I like it." Ryder said.

"And I like Victoria. It's like Charlotte, simple and clear cut." Marley said. "And not a lame coy on anything. Like, I dunno, my maiden name."

"I promise you it's not a thing based off Rose, I've always liked the name Violet. It's amazing."

"I'll write them both down." Marley said.

* * *

Ryder and Marley had settled on names for both a boy and a girl. Marley wrote on a new sheet of paper the names they decided.

**Boys**

Amos  
Bryan  
Connor  
Danyell  
Ethan  
Freddie  
Gabriel  
Hunter  
Heath  
Jude  
Keith  
Lawrence  
Mitt  
Nickolas  
Owen  
Powell  
Roger  
Steven  
Tucker  
Vincent  
Waldo

**Girls:**

Ava  
Belinda  
Charlotte  
Daria  
Evangelyna  
Fiona  
Klarissa  
Katelynn (yes, Marley lost to an argument with this name!)  
Matilda  
Penelope  
Perri  
Rae  
Remy  
Sherry  
Theresa  
Violet  
Winifred

* * *

**Well that was a quick update, right? Can't believe it.**

**QUESTION TO ANSWER: **

**So will Ryder and Marley have a_ Boy_ or a _Girl?_**

**~ Ember411**


	20. The Bitch Is Back

**Wow.. I think I actually uploaded... EARLY AGAIN! And how I managed to find the time is in the hands on this insane universe.**

**Since Glee isn't on Thursdays for another 2/3 weeks... I'm going to be bored as "feh" Damn, I want Ryley! If there is not Ryley, than no Jarley! I watched the V-Day episode the other day and, ga, I lost total respect for Jake now. Puckerman, all they want is sex :P**

**Oh well, and yes... The Bitch Is Back, with her hubby's cousin!**

**Enjoy this :)**

* * *

October 4. Marley was out for the day as she had called in sick (a lie, but she didn't feel like going in) and was walking around downtown Lima with Ollie. She was slowly walking with the pretty fast dog, thinking to herself. She was out of the house all day while Ryder was at work then heading to his brother's house for a while.

The only reason the two were out was because Unique and her five sisters, her six sister-in-law's,Sugar, Brittany, Brittany's cousins Molly and Madysen, Melody, Melody's sister and a friend from work named Mae were decorating the nursery room, the room that was across from Marley and Ryder's room (what was the old guest room, now becoming a nursery) for the baby.

She passed a costume store that was selling Halloween costumes now. Marley smiled, looking at some of the dog costumes at the window and looking back at Ollie. "What do you say, Ollie? Devil Dog or Taco Dog?"

Ollie barked for several seconds. Marley laughed.

"Alright, Devil Dog for you and Angel for Odette," Marley laughed.

"I think it's kind of funny how you can talk to dogs," A voice from behind Marley said.

Marley turned, and when she saw who it was, she groaned on the inside.

"But then again you share the name of the dead dog. So it's not surprising at all." Kitty said, glaring at Marley with the same facial expression she gave everyone back in high school. "How's your book going? Fifty Shades of Gravy."

"Not in the mood, Kitty." Marley bitterly said. "Kitty, I'm far in my pregnancy that if any emotional things happen to me... it can get bad."

"Not my fault if your constant crying makes that dyslexic, circus fat-ass bastard comes out early." Kitty bluntly told her, a small smirk on her face.

"Shut it, Kitty."

"So who's the father? It can't be Ryder, he'd never touch you. God knows why he married you in the first place. The only way he can marry you was if you blackmailed him or if he just felt bad that nobody would marry a circus size baby."

"Kitty, shut it." Marley said. "Do you have any idea of how much of a bitch you are? Honestly, how are you married?"

"There's a nice side to me that only my husband brings out. But that's not the point. I can only imagine now how long it would take until you end up like that circus clown in high school. Probably not long, like three weeks."

Marley, pissed off, picked up a crushed beer can and threw it at Kitty—who screeched loudly.

"You bitch!" Kitty screamed, walking towards her.

"Uh huh," Marley held her hand up. "You can't hurt me."

"Oh and why not?"

"While it's legally not said, attacking a pregnant woman isn't right. I and Ryder can, in fact, charge you for that if my baby gets hurt from you. With the witnesses around here," Marley said as she pointed around the area that had at least fifty people roaming the streets. "they'll say that even though I started this argument, it was _you_ who attacked _me,_ a _pregnant_ woman."

Kitty snarled at Marley, who smirked at Kitty. She simply turned on her heel and walked away, but not without giving Marley the middle finger. "Still giving birth to a fat dyslexic circus elephant."

"At least Ryder and I want children. From what I heard, a certain someone's husband isn't willing to have babies with his wife because of a fear of having spoiled, rotten children."

Marley smiled as she held her hands over he baby belly, as if she were covering her child's ears, and said "The bitch is back."

But on the inside, Marley felt sick to her stomach. She lost her appetite for dinner with Ryder later. She turned back to Ollie and smiled, as he jumped up on her and she rubbed his face and kissed him.

* * *

A few hours later, after dropping Ollie off back at home (without entering the house), and meeting Ryder at BreadStix. She didn't want to eat anything there, as her cravings were more into something sweet like cupcakes, but also she still had Kitty's voice stuck inside her head.

_Bastard dyslexic circus elephant. Fat bastard with dyslexia. _All that rang in her head and she couldn't get it out. Even when she playing with her food and poking it with a fork, she still had Kitty's disgusting voice on her mind. _Kitty's terrible! How dare she even talk to Ryder and I's baby like this. She has no right to insult our baby like she did to me in high school. She doesn't know the baby, how can she even insult our baby?_

At one point she glanced down at her baby belly and smiled, rubbing it. _Honey? Can you hear me? I'm sorry about today with that mean lady and you had to hear everything she said about you. Don't you dare listen to her honey. You're an amazing little angel that Daddy and I can't wait to see in a few months and when you're ready to join us after the New Year. I promise, I will try to keep that mean lady out of our lives when I can. I heard a rumor at work that she and her husband are staying in Chicago instead of Lima. Unless it happens, I will try to keep her out of our lives. But I can't control everything so listen to me Honey. Don't ever listen to what that lady tells yous. You're so much better than she is and she's just jealous. She was jealous of me in high school and now she will be jealous because Ryder and I have the perfect little baby. Trust me, I listened to Kitty back then in high school and she made life a living nightmare. __Don't be like Mommy and listen to her words; that lead me into a lot of trouble in high school. Nothing bad, it was bad, but not like robbing a bank. I ended up puking and taking pills._

Marley had a thought in mind.

_"Baby? Can... can you feel me when I puke?"_

As her mind wondered that thought, she didn't notice that Ryder was staring at her for the entire time. At least seven minutes he was staring at her during her deep thoughts.

"Marley? Are you okay?"

Marley shot up a second later with a startled expression. "Yeah. I'm fine. I just—uh, have a lot on mind."

He lifted one eyebrow up and said, "You sure?"

"Positive." She lied. "So what time is Joe's birthday party?"

"Two I think, from seven." Ryder explained. "I have this really _awesome_ costume idea that I saw at the costume store the other idea, and we got half the stuff around the house too."

"If you got me a shirt that has a Chucky Doll on the belly, in a way to resemble that Chucky Doll chain sawed me open... get another idea." She said with a smile, noting his favorite horror Halloween film of the season. "Same goes with Tiffany Doll."

"No, not the first idea..." Ryder laughed. "Alright, we're skeleton! One of those black shirts and pants with the white bones being shown. My ideas are this: Get the shirts, shirts only, and wear those with a pair of jeans or something like that."

"And how is this funny?"

"The female shirt, which will fit you, shows a cartoon skeleton baby!" He laughed, causing Marley to laugh. "Like, as if it's an x-ray thing of our baby!"

"That's funny, I like that." She laughed. "Now I'm excited!"

* * *

An hour or so later after they left they made their way to the costume store and got the shirts before heading home. Along their way back to the bus stop, which would be coming in twenty minutes, Marley made a quick step to the bathroom in a coffee shop.

Before she left the bathroom, as she washed her hands, the door opened and a little adult girl came walking in.

"Oh look the bitch is back." Kitty remarked. "Tell me, did the buffet run out of food ten seconds after you and Ryder got there? Is your baby getting any bigger than it usually should be right about now?"

"Kitty shut it."

"Listen I'm just letting you know that I saw you at that costume store with Ryder. I don't know why you need one, just steal clothes from the garbage bin like you did in high school. All I know is that you got the wrong costume."

"Excuse me?"

"Should of gone with the cow costume. It fits; literally for someone as fat as you—"

"I think I've told you I'm pregnant, ten times." Marley snapped at Kitty.

"But a fat pregnant girl. Think about it, when your pushing that elephant outside to this world you're going to be shitting food out of there first before the elephant comes out. Or if there's a cut open stomach emergency because of your fat, they'll have to take the sugary foods out before they can even grab the child."

"Kitty, shut it."

"Tell me Dead Dog, do you stick Pointer and Bird down your pie hole any more?" Kitty asked, washing her hands now.

"I did, then I stopped."

"Too bad," Kitty said.

"Why?"

"It was working too. Honestly, when I first saw you back in the mall it took me five seconds to realize it was you." Kitty said with a smile. She was gong back down that road again, making it seem as if Marley is doing something positive when in reality she was making Marley worse. "And a while ago at the store I didn't know it was you for ten seconds. I've been jealous."

"Jealous?" Marley asked, a bit shyly but curious at Kitty's comments.

"Yeah. See, I'd love to get a baby on board sign for a car, but unfortunately the guy I married had a V-Sec five years ago and while it can be undone, he has no point in doing so." Kitty said. "So I let my emotions take over a pregnant girl I've been jealous of in high school."

Marley thought to herself as she glared at Kitty, arms crossed over her baby belly.

_Well I knew Kitty wasn't happy with me in high school, having to get the lead role in Grease and when she thought I was going out with Jake for a week, when in fact I was helping him with homework he had missed. And the time I won Mimi in Rent the next year and the last year when we did hairspray and I won the part Penny... although that entire time she kept telling me, before and during practice that I should of gotten Tracy or Mrs. Turnblad. It took me a while to figure out what she was telling me. But at my old school, I was jealous of this one girl. She had everything I wanted—perfect family of a mother, father, a brother and a dog— she had the body girls died for and the appearance that boys drooled over. So I know how Kitty feels now. And I know that there are some woman who want children, by birth, and experience that body carrying life and yet; they can't for some reason._

_I... I'm feeling terrible for Kitty now!_

Marley, full of tears now from her emotions (thanks to her own persona and hormones), quickly pulled Kitty into a deep and loving hug and cried.

"I'm sorry!" She cried. "I'm so sorry I've been a... terrible person the last few times."

Kitty, playing along, hugged Marley back. "Don't worry sweetie. I know it's just the hormones kicking in during this exciting time of your life." She pulled away and placed her hands on Marley's shoulders. "I didn't meant to be a Little Sue Sylvester to you, but a bit more bitchy than Coach Sue Sylvester. I'm going back to New York the day after tomorrow, so I'll be out of here and hoping for the best."

"Have you seen anyone else?" Marley asked. "From school?"

"Just you and Ryder."

"Come to Joe's birthday tomorrow!" Marley said, a bit happier and with a smile. "I'm sure everyone will want to meet you!"

"I don't know," Kitty said, "It's been years... I know Pre-Op Precious: Based on the Novel Barf by Sapphire threaten me once that if I ever came near you again after graduation, they'd kick me ass. And I've seen them pissed. Same goes with Bimbo Barbie and Less Beautiful Version of Gloria Estefan.."

"Who and who?"

"Brittany and Santana," Kitty answered. "Just take my last advise of the night: Being thin and not eating are signs of true willpower and success," She then pointed over to a free stall and said, "You can never be to thin."

She left. Marley glared back at her reflection with water in her eyes still. Sure, Kitty just admitted she was jealous but her words of insults still stabbed Marley in the heart and her minds. She glared down at her hands and all she could see was the four slices of pizza she ate at dinner with Ryder. The cheese, the sauce, the bread, the pineapple and the ham on the slice... all those calories in her belly now. The water she ordered? That wasn't going to help her at all. That didn't help her at all. They lied; water doesn't make one fuller. It makes them more hungry.

Marley was about to go to the toilet when her phone rang. She read the called ID as Ryder. "Ryder?" She answered. "Hello?"

"Marley, the bus will be here in ten minutes."

"Okay, I'm leaving now." She said and hung up. She glared back at the free stall with a depressed look on her face.

"No time for that..." She glanced down at her baby belly. "I'm... I'm sorry, Baby." Marley said, wiping tears away.

* * *

By the time Ryder and Marley got back home, the others had left and a note was left behind for the two.

_Two more coats for the bedroom. Don't enter. Bringing in nursery bed, changing table, ect in a few days._

_~ New Direction Team._

Marley went upstairs, changed into one of Ryder's shirts that was oversize on Marley's body and a pair of her pink pajama bottoms. She laid on the bed and feel asleep... an hour into crying herself to sleep.

* * *

**So what's you think? Kitty's a bitch again, HAHA! And I totally hit her character persona correctly!**

**Kitty's advise is from the song: **_Skinny _by _Edith Backlund._

**I found it under the Glee video entitled: Marley Skinny.**_  
_

**It was the first video that came up, I advise you watch and listen to the song, because I plan on using the song again at some point. Maybe the next chapter? LOL.**

**~Ember411**


	21. Skeletons

**SO I've decided to make a sequel to this story! Those chapters in the sequel were originally apart of this story, but I don't want to make the story too long. So I'll put them in a sequel. The sequel will be long, but not too long either.**

**Don't worry though! This IS NOT the last chapter, so don't worry your heads off :)**

**So, enjoy this story my little pumpkins... Oh God, I sound like my teacher! She always calls us pumpkins!**

* * *

Marley awoke to the feeling of someone kicking and punching her from the inside. She shot up in bed, rubbing her belly and breathing deeply. Ryder was still asleep as it was only three in the morning. She then heard her stomach growled and realized that she, and baby, were both hungry. She sighed as she got out of bed and made her downstairs to find something.

"Find something with no calories…and healthy." She said digging the empty kitchen; both she and Ryder forgot to go food shopping yesterday. "I don't want an apple, but it's the only food with no calories."

Marley grabbed three apples, chopped them into small pieces, and began eating them. After eating seven pieces she was growing disgusting with them. She didn't want these, she wanted…. Ice cream. She thought to herself, the closest store was only a mile walk, about twenty minutes. But thanks to her slow waddling body she'd take about forty to get there and forty to get back. She then remembered there was a self-serve frozen yogurt store that was a half hour walk in the other direction.

Marley went into the basement and changed into a pair of clean clothes, a white shirt with Ryder's black zipper hooded sweatshirt, her jeans and converse. She grabbed her bag that contained her wallet, house keys, cell phone and left out the door.

* * *

By the time she got to the 24 hour frozen yogurt place she had finished listening to Phil Collins and took off her headphones. Inside she came to a decision: The ten-ounce cup or the twenty-ounce cup? The small meant she would have fewer toppings and therefore have less food to eat meaning she wouldn't gain so much weight. But if she got the bigger cup than she would have more fruit to eat and the less junk she would put on (she had to have some sort of junk food, as the baby was kicking for junk food!)

She took a twenty-ounce cup and poured herself a strawberry flavor and a wedding cake flavor. She went over to the toppings and found blueberries, strawberries, banana, coconut, kiwi, watermelon and crackers. But as she passed by the Oreo's, rainbow sprinkles and hot fudge syrup… she craved for it and added them. Her total cost was seven dollars, but she didn't care. She had food. The second she went to go sit outside she munched it down.

Ten minutes later she began walking home. It had to be almost or a little passed four in the morning. She didn't care as Ryder wouldn't wake for another hour or two and wouldn't suspect a thing.

* * *

Marley got back home at for-thirty. She walked in and took the dogs out into the backyard to give them their morning business. She stood up and walked around, thinking about the food. If she walked than she burn off the calories. But Kitty's words chanted in the back of her mind. Marley wanted to go puke, once more, but Ryder was inside. She didn't want him to worry about anything at all.

She stopped for a few seconds, watching the sunrise over the fence. She smiled warmly, feeling the positive and optimism rise with her soul. As her positive thoughts rose with the morning she felt two arms snake around her waist and a warm face next to hers, their mouth against the back of her ear, and kissed it.

"Morning Ryder." Marley said, leaning backwards in his arms.

"Morning beautiful," His groggily voice greeted; now moving down to the side of her neck. "Did you wake up at three?" He asked, each word coming out after a peck on her neck.

"Yes, Baby was hungry." She answered, taking his hands off her waist and placing them on her baby bump. "And I was too."

Ryder kissed her neck for several more minutes, taking everything he loved about Marley into his neck kisses. He lifted his head up so that his mouth was next to her ear. "How was that walk to the frozen yogurt place?"

"How'd you know?" She asked him, now turning to face him.

He kissed the top of her forehead for several seconds before leaning his forehead against hers. He smiled, looking at her cerulean eyes, "I just know. Wake me up next time though, please? The guy is suppose to go out and get the ice cream and pickles in the middle of the night for his wife."

"Says who?" Marley laughed.

"T.V." Ryder laughed.

Marley smiled as she put her hand around his neck and pushed him down for a kiss. He responded quickly and he pulled her waist up and kissed her back, crossing his arms behind her.

* * *

Several hours of wanting to vomit and puke and feeling disgusting with the food inside of her belly, Marley was at Joe's house and was carrying the card she made for Joe. Nothing big as she didn't get a chance this year to ask what he wanted. Ryder came along up the stairs as she rang the doorbell. Seconds later, Joe opened the door of his childhood home and smiled.

"Great, two more skeletons." He said, opening the door wider. Marley saw he, too, had a skeleton shirt on but matching pants too. "Thanks for coming guys."

"Happy birthday, Joe!" Marley said as she walked in. She gave him a huge hug and he responded instantly with a hug back. "Where's Vinessa?" She asked, wanting to know where her old roommate from when she was in the hospital in high school, was. For the last ten months she's been in Ireland for cultural studies and California for History classes.

"Kitchen making fruit punch." Joe answered.

Marley left quickly and went over to the kitchen, passing the living room full of her old friends from high school. She found Brittany and Santana; Brittany was dressed as the self-claimed Unicorn Princess and Santana was dressed as Selena Quintanilla Perez. Kurt and Blaine were on the couch dressed as Snooki and Mike "Situation" (repeating a costume they've done a long time ago for Halloween).

Mike, who was dressed as a magician, talked to Tina who was dressed as some robot Japanese robot chick (there was a name for it, Marley know, but couldn't remember!) She saw Quinn dressed as Lady Gaga, wearing the pink dress with silver hoops around the waistband, and Puck just had an eye patch on. He wasn't much of a Halloween person, but Joe's birthday was usually Halloween costume parties.

Rory was on a chair, dressed as a hobo, with Sugar on his knees—dressed as some Disney princess. Unique and Mercedes were in the back, both dressed as Whitney Hudson from two different videos (Unique was from 'How Will I Know?' and Mercedes from 'Somebody To Love'). Sam was dressed as Dr. Evil, with a cap to make him bald over his head and a toy white cat.

* * *

In the kitchen she found her best friend Vinessa, dressed as Vivienne from Pretty Woman, talking to Finn, Rachel, Melody and Jake. Finn was a football player; Rachel was (possibly) Barbra Streisand. Jake was dressed normal, as he didn't like dressing up for Halloween, and Melody was dressed as a nerd. She pulled it off too, wearing on of Jake's white shirts, pants pulled up over the shirt, her socks showing and a pair of glasses she use to wear but now didn't because she knocked the glass parts off. Pigtail hair and the most ridiculous tie ever.

Marley snuck up behind Vinessa and attacked her in a hug from behind. Vinessa, easily being scared and flip out, turned around and was ready to smack whoever it was that frighten her. When she saw it was Marley though, she stopped and grinned.

"Bitch." She said. "Sorry, I meant Pregnant Bitch…. Nice costume."

"Thank you!" Marley laughed,l hugging her. "It's been months! How was Europe and California?"

"Good. I missed Joey and you guys." She said with a laugh. "Damn though, I never thought of you being pregnant though. Yet again, I don't know a thing." She said.

"I know. It's kicking me and yet I still don't believe it."

"God Marley, your carrying a kid inside. Not a food baby." She said, just as Joe walked in. "Joey, my lesbian lover is back!"

Joe laughed along with Marley and Ryder. Vinessa and Marley's relationship was best friends and sisters. They joked that if they were both lesbians, they'd be the lesbian couple. It was now forever their joke and weren't afraid to admit this to their close friends.

"You're lucky I still love you, Vinny." Joe said, calling her his special nickname as she always called him Joey.

"You too Joey." Vinessa said, grabbing a bowl of cheese doodles. Still holding Marley's waist and had her head on top of Marley's she said, "Lesbian lover, to the room!"

Back in the living room the two girls sat down on different ends of a couch, with Ryder and Joe sitting next to them, more so Ryder lifted Marley up and sat down and placed her on his lap. Marley then noticed Mr. Schue and Mrs. Pillsberry-Schue standing near the fireplace talking. was dressed as Frank Sinatra and Emma was dressed as Nancy Sinatra (the wife, not the daughter!)

The entire Glee gang talked for several minutes until Marley remembered her guest.

"Hey Joe, I hope you don't mind I invited someone at the last minute."

"No, who is it "

"Kitty." She said.

At the second she said that everyone became quiet in the room and gawked at Marley; as if she has five heads. Marley stared around with a nervous look on her face. "What? "

"Excuse me, Kitty?" Santana asked. "That little psycho who tricked into becoming a boney stick figure?"

"When did you meet her?" Sugar asked

"Last night. I stopped by a store to wash my hands and saw her inside." She turned to Ryder and said to him, "Before the bus came."

Ryder icily stared at Marley with a bitterly annoyed face expression. He didn't say a word.

A second later a voice said, "Unless people want to get brutally murdered and die from blood cuts, I suggest a door be closed,"

Everyone turned and found Kitty standing there in her old Cheerios uniform with that usual Kitty smirk she had on face.

Everyone but Marley gawked at her with dirty looks. After the constant bullying she did on innocent Marley, they didn't like to be around her. Let alone have Kitty and Marley in the same room.

Mr. Schue tried to keep everything calm, like when these kids were in high school, "Hi Kitty."

Marley jumped up from Ryder's lap and quickly went over and hugged Kitty, who hugged back and secretly found it disgusting to hug Marley. "Kitty you made it."

"For an hour, then I got some packing for tomorrow." She said, gong around Marley and faced Joe. "Happy birthday, Religious Avatar."

Joe, in his usual be-nice-to-everyone-like-a-good-Christian-he-is, smiled. "Thanks."

"Do we have anymore honey ball popcorn?" Artie asked.

"Yeah...shit, I left them upstairs in my bag along with my camera." Vinessa said.

"Great, Marley to get some please?" Artie asked. "And the camera? I wanna see those pictures from Europe." His plan was too keep Marley away as possible so the gang could talk to Kitty. Alone.

"Sure, Kitty come with me." Marley said taking Kitty's hand and starting to leave.

Vinessa spoke. "Excuse me, I'd hate to be a bitch. But M, I hate this blonde bitch. I don't want her in my room and near my shit."

Marley turned to Kitty with a sad look, knowing how everyone was feeling about Kitty's being here. She mouthed 'sorry' to Kitty before leaving to grab the stuff upstairs.

Once gone, Santana spoke first. "You messing with her?"

"No."

"If you mess with My Girl I will personally take it an ugly, Unique level." Unique said.

"And I'll go all Lima Heights on You." Santana said.

"Same here." Jake said, having to had lived in the same area as Santana when he was growing up.

"Please, I'm done with that stuff. My aunt Claire was a anorexic for years. She got knocked up and gave birth to my still born cousin Phillip. Nobody should feel what my Aunt Claire felt afterwards. Being hooked to an IV and on suicidal watch."

"We're gonna watch you still " Puck said.

"Too bad I'm moving tomorrow back to New York." She said. "I'm here for an hour, so relax all your Lima asses." As soon as she said that, Marley came back down with the camera in one hand and the popcorn bag in the other hand. "I got the camera and popcorn!"

Fifty minutes later, Kitty was about to leave when she bumped into Marley. "Show me where the bathroom is? Bob Marley Hair won't tell me and neither will his girlfriend."

"Sure," Marley said and took her upstairs.

Ryder watched them go up and held back from following them. He trusted Marley, but could he trust Marley with Kitty?

* * *

Upstairs Marley showed Kitty the bathroom. Kitty turned to Marley and said "Purged yet?"

"Kitty, it's Joe's birthday. I can't. If someone walked in on me then his birthday would be ruined."

"Do you remember how big Jessica Simpson looked with her first baby? How big her baby belly was? That's going to be you, but ten times bigger, unless you stick those fingers down your throat."

"But—"

"Kim Kardashian's big baby belly was huge when she gave birth to that baby, but she lost her weight in the blink of an eye. Same with that other Kardashian sister."

"But Kitty—"

"Remember Kate, after she birth to the new royal baby in July a few years ago?" Kitty asked. "She went on a diet and lost her baby weight within two weeks." Kitty told Marley. "Look, losing the baby weight rapidly is a new thing, but maybe this sad Life Time Movie Story life of yours will be different. Losing the weight _before_ the kid comes along and makes you a circus rhino-elephant baby."

"But Kitty, they all had the money to lose the weight. They got special trainers to help them lose weight and got special chefs to make low calorie food, none of them had to do this to lose the weight."

"True. But I'd still do it if I were you." Kitty said. "I've got to go now. Remember my advise from last night?"

Marley nodded as Kitty left. Marley turned and watch the girl leave one last time before leaving the state. She depressingly faced down at her baby belly and rubbed her belly.

_Not now, _she thought_, too many people._

* * *

Downstairs at the same time, before Kitty left, Ryder physically pulled her aside. "Where's Marley?"

"Pissing, what else?" Kitty bluntly told him.

"Kitty, don't you dare fucking lie to me." He gritted through his teeth, holding her arm a bit tighter than before. "I don't want you to be causing all this shit to Marley. You have no idea what you've done to her and don't have one, single kind bone in your body. I don't give a shit if you have a kind bone or not, but don't cause any shit for Marley."

"I'm not," she lied. "Look, I had to pee, she showed me where the bathroom was and it was a disgusting smell of shit and piss- New York horse shit smells better. Little Lynn pushed down on the bladder and now making Mama pee."

Ryder bitter stared at her and held her tighter. "If you said _anything_ to Marley, I'll personal find you and make one day of Hell last for the rest of your life."

"If she does anything, it's her choice and not mine."

She left.

Ryder looked back up the stairs. He trusted Marley with all his heart and soul, but with Kitty around… he feared for her. Marley wasn't stupid, but she was pretty naive with some things—she was innocent. Ryder loved that she was innocent (in some ways), but sometimes that naive innocence could get tricked down another path and if that happened then Marley would have a mental breakdown. And right now the last thing Marley needed was a mental break down. So Ryder decided right there that for the new few days he'd keep a special close eye on her, closer than he's ever done, to make sure she wasn't going down the wrong path.

* * *

Upstairs, Marley wiped away her tears. She sniffled as she threw away the toilet paper. She stood up from her knees and breathed deeply, glancing down at the toilet. Now full of cheese doodles, potato chips, popcorn, bananas, apple pieces, oranges, grapes, pineapples and other fruit and grape soda.

She took one final deep breath as she flushed the toilet, watching her and her baby's food washing away. She turned to the sink and turned the faucet on, washing her hands first.

She glanced back at her reflection and found nobody. She found nobody, but thick faced person with big shoulders, big chest, big belly, big thighs and big everything. But the reality was she was a ghost. Pale, frail, kind of scrawny—she looked how she dressed. She looked unhealthy.

A knocked startled Marley back into Joe's bathroom.

"Marley?" Ryder's voice from behind came. "Marley, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," She turned the sink off and wiped her hands on a towel. She went over and opened the door to find Ryder standing there. "Sorry."

"Everything okay?" He suspiciously asked her, making his way into the bathroom without making it so obvious as to why he was in there. "Did you lose something in here?"

"No. I just spaced out." She told him. She did, really, space out. "You know me."

"Okay," Ryder said, spinning in a full circle once more before facing back to Marley. "Just checking and making sure you didn't fall and hit your head on anything."

Marley laughed. "You always think that's going to happen to me." She said.

"It's a bathroom, what else can I say?" Ryder said. "Alright I'm hungry, let's go get cake!"

* * *

Four hours later everyone was watching the end of a horror Halloween film. Everyone was cuddled with someone, commonly their loved one (Puck and Quinn cuddled in a corner and were telling funny jokes, Mike just sat there with arms crossed and relaxed on his chair, Tina and Unique sat on their own chairs biting their nails and Sam, who had bought the movie to watch, just sat there watching the film), scared out of their wits. Marley, however, had been asleep since the first ten minutes of the two and a half hour horror film. Her head was rested on Ryder's lap, facing his stomach. She was so quiet that nobody noticed she was asleep until the end of the film.

She woke up about fifteen minutes after the film ended. She and Ryder were the only ones left in the living room, as everyone was outside in the backyard with Joe opening gifts. She turned up from the stomach and found Ryder grinning down at her, caressing her hair with his hand. Ryder leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Hi sleepy. You sleep like a baby, nothing wakes you up." Ryder said softly, then laughed. "Not even when Finn, Jake, Puck and Mr. Schue scream like little girls."

Marley laughed as she imagined the four men screaming like little five year old girls.

"Hi." She sleepily said back, eyes still closed. "Where's everyone?"

"Opening gifts." He said, now softly touching the side of her face. "Kurt and Blaine are leaving now, wanna go home? If we stay longer than Finn will give a ride home." Marley thought for several seconds. She opened her eyes and looked up at deep brown eyes looking down at her with so much care in them. "Now."

Several goodbyes later, Marley was asleep again on Ryder's shoulder in the back of Kurt and Blaine's car. Ryder just smiled down at Marley as he kept him arm wrapped around Marley and pulled her closer towards him.

Once home, Ryder carried Marley inside as Blaine opened and closed the door for them. Ryder carried Marley over to the couch and placed her down, placing a blanket over her. He squatted next to her, smiling at this angel. He loved Marley so much and he didn't want to see her get hurt. He leaned in and kissed her nose. He whispered softly to her.

_"You're so beautiful to me. Don't change a thing about yourself. You're not perfect, but you're perfect to me. I love you."_

* * *

**Aww so there we go! I loved it. This was a super longer chapter, almost 4,000 words, but I didn't want to break it up into parts. Well, enjoy this!**

**~ Ember411.**


	22. Work Stress

**So, I have updated again I see? How interesting that is on account that I have a life outside of fanfiction and that I am a bit zany these days with my own writing. I am currently writing 2 stories, in the middle of developing 1, editing 1 story and writing three more Ryley fics that I thought of for the past several weeks. It's kind of crazy.**

**Current Date: October 10.**

* * *

For the last five days Marley had managed to avoid eating some things, but had to eat the rest. Every night before she went to bed she would turn the sink on, puke three times, then she would brush her teeth. She was extra careful for the last few days as she knew that Ryder would be watching her now that he knows Kitty and she had caught up a few times.

Kitty's advise stuck in Marley's head. She didn't want to gain weight. She couldn't control this pregnancy at the moment as well as other worries on her mind. The only thing Marley could control was her weight gain and weight lost. The calories she had.

Ryder didn't suspect a thing. He was extra careful to keep an eye on Marley, but she didn't do anything wrong (in his eyes) and seemed to be getting better. He's been to the doctors with her more lately, the past few weeks, and was still hoping she'd take him to a support meeting soon. He even asked her about it one morning.

"Do you have support tomorrow?" He asked her, handing her a bowl of yogurt with blueberries and granola mixed in.

"Yeah," Marley said. "It's just Wilson and I. There's a field trip to a buffet tomorrow for dinner, but because I haven't gone to meetings for a long time, Wilson thinks I'm not ready yet to go there."

"You sound pretty sad."

"I'll be fine. It's my own fault." Marley said sadly. She thought for several seconds before looking at Ryder. "Would you like to come?"

Ryder smiled. _Finally._ He thought. "Yeah, I'd love too."

"Nice. It's kind of nice, Wilson's a funny guy. But he can be serious when he has to be serious." Marley said. "What's going on for today?"

"We're at work, silly. Finn, Mike, Joe and Rory I think, are coming over to finish painting the nursery room." Ryder explained, biting into his cereal.

"Silly I know that, but I mean anything. Want to go see that movie we never saw, because of...the incident." Marley asked, hoping he'd say yes.

"Sure." Ryder said. "First time not burning anything." He mentioned, holding up his cereal bowl.

"You mean you didn't burn those muffins I made for the guys later?" Marley asked, lifting an eyebrow up.

"No, I didn—Shit!" Ryder dropped his cereal bowl and ran to the oven. "Shit!" He screeched, taking gloves and taking out the crispy muffins. "Oh my God! And these were banana muffins!"

"You're not making anything for now on." Marley said as she got up and waddled over to the sink to wash her bowl. "You'll burn this freaking house down and I'm not going to get blamed for it, so I'm leaving." She laughed.

"Be quiet." Ryder said kissing her. "Later."

* * *

At work Marley went into the bathroom and dropped to her knees. Eyes watery as she sadly looked down at the toilet. "I've broken my promise so many times, I give up on them." She said. She put two of her fingers in her mouth and was just about to shove them into the back of her throat, when someone called for her. And it was an unpleasing voice too.

"Ms. Rose, get to work! I pay you for work, not the bathroom! Unless you work as a janitor." Mr. Theodore Cooper said.

"You don't even pay me, someone else pays me." Marley said, getting off her knees and leaving the stall and went towards the sink.

"Someone's bitter." Theodore Cooper said.

"That someone is just about six months pregnant." Marley bitterly said.

"Whatever." Theodore Cooper said, leaving the bathroom.

Ten minutes later Marley came out of the bathroom, having to had puke a few times and washed her hands. She sat in the studio room, playing the music she was to sing, in her head and focusing on the lyrics. She felt dizzy in her head and a sudden wave of a headache came in mind. It passed, just as Charlie and Pierre (the talk show hosts) finished their talk and introduced Marley for the song.

The music began. And just as the beat started, Marley started to sing. It wasn't until twenty seconds into the song when she felt dizzy again. She fought through it, messing up a line, and kept singing. Once she finished the three minute song she felt something in her stomach that was unpleasant and uncomfortable. She tried to hold it back, but she couldn't hold it in any longer.

Marley got up from her seat and quickly ran herself into the bathroom. She didn't have time to close the stall. She just ran in and puked her brains out. God knows why she vomited, but she just did. She came out of the stall several seconds later, wiping the extra off her face and taking deep breaths. She looked up and found Mae standing there with a smirk grin on her face.

"Feeling better?" Mae asked, handing her an open bottle of water.

Marley nodded. "Much." She then took large chunks of the water.

"Good. Too bad you have to leave."

"What?"

"Theodore Cooper-Ass talked to the bosses. Said that you're extremely sick to the stomach and having some health issues—anorexia, bulimia, medicine bottles. Said something about puking this morning at work." Mae explained the reason.

"So I got sick." Marley said. "And how would he know about..." She remembered. "Kitty. She would tell him."

"Well long story put short, bosses started you up on maternity leave. From now until May. They think it'll be long enough for you to be gone to get better and having a healthy pregnancy from now until January and you'll get paid through the entire time off."

"What!?" Marley yelled, now pissed. "God! All I did was puke and now this! Ugh!" Marley rapidly left the bathroom and walked around until she found Theodore Cooper in a room, with him drinking his coffee. She entered the room without thinking of where she was. "You!" She yelled loudly.

"Yes Ms. Rose?"

"You have no right into telling me what I can do and what I can't do! I am capable of handling things, just like I've always done!" She shrieked, pointing a finger in his chest. By now everyone near them was watching this. "I have basically taken care of myself since I was a little girl whenever my mother had to scrape money off the cold grounds just to take care of me! But did I let her work to death to take of me? No! When I was a teenager I was already an adult to myself!"

"Ms. Rose we're—"

"Shut up! I was never a teenager! Since I was fourteen I was an adult and having to basically take care of myself. I worked in peoples yards and babysat for money to get something nice! When I was invited to someones house party I'd take some extras home and share them with my mom. Sure when i was sixteen I grew into a problem and I have been suffering that for years! And I'm still suffering that problem. But no way in hell do you, Theodore Cooper, have any word on myself. I am Marley Elizabeth Rose-Lynn! I've been an adult since I was fourteen, taking care of myself since that age, and I can handle anything right now. I may be six months pregnant, but I can handle it all! So if you want to send me home, go ahead, try to. But I'm staying here until I fucking choose to leave!"

"Ms. Rose—"

"And for the record, if you had any sense of respect to people, you'd at least call me Mrs. Lynn. When half of the ladies here got married, you called them by their married names! Those above you AND below you. I'm below you, but yet I'm still Ms. Rose! No, I'm Mrs. Lynn!"

"Ms. Rose, please, just go home and relax."

"No, fuck you!" Marley screeched. "You are so annoying! Since day one when I started here. I can't handle you anymore!"

"Marley, I just—"

"No, fuck you!" Marley yelled again. "I'm done. I am done with this work place. I am sick and tired of you and you constantly attacking me with all your insults and your stupid, thick, dense, closed mind. You're a loser! I'm done being in the same work place as you! Until I get a better job that won't have someone that pisses me off as much as now... Stay. The. Hell. Away. From. Me!"

Marley left the room and went over to grab her jacket. Everyone was still staring at her during the entire time. Marley looked at everyone and was confused as to why they were staring at her.

"Mae, why are they staring at me?" She asked Mae.

"Um, you yelled at Cooper." Mae said.

"So?"

"While he was on air..." Her voice drifted off.

Marley turned back to the room she was just in and saw that the 'On Air' sign was lit. She turned bright rose red and turned around to Mae. Watery eyes she said, "It was nice working with you, Mae. I'm fired now."

Before anyone could say anything Marley left in a second and grabbed the closest taxi cab that was outside.

* * *

The entire ride home she was crying. Eyeliner smeared all over her red rose puffy face, sniffing and huffing to breathe. By the time she returned home she saw Finn's truck in the driveway. She knew the boys were here already and she guessed that they heard her on the radio.

The second she was inside she threw her bag down and went up stairs, taking her jacket off along the way. The nursery door opened and Finn came out, wearing one of Ryder's clean shirts and jean pants, only because he wanted to talk to Marley and he couldn't because of the paint on his painting clothes (they're covered in a specific color that would give away the gender of the baby). He closed the door quickly so Marley wouldn't see the color of the room either.

"Marley, hey." Finn said. He quickly forced Marley into a hug and patted her back. "Hey, it's okay."

"Shut up, it isn't!" Marley said, pulling away from the hug and went into the bedroom. She closed the door and went on the bed. She cried and cried, ignoring her cell phone calls from Ryder and other friends who listen to the radio station. Ryder called the house several times, but Marley wouldn't answer the phone or take the phone from one of the guys who'd answer the phone.

Around five, Marley was halfway asleep when she heard a knock on the door. The door opened and brightness entered the dark room. Her squinted eyes could make out a figure, holding a plate of pizza. As the figure got closer she saw it was Ryder. She buried her face into the pillow, wanting to avoid talking to him about the incident.

Ryder shook Marley lightly, knowing she was awake and avoiding him. "Marley? Honey, I know you're awake. Come on I ordered some pizza for us and the guys." Marley didn't respond. "Marley, it's okay."

"Ryder I yelled at someone who's above me in the work business." Marley lifted her head up, watery eyed, and weak voice. "But worse I swore at him, the F-Bomb, several times. On air. Everyone who listens to that station heard me. I'm fired."

"Maybe not," Ryder said. "Your bosses, Jett and Jeff, seem like nice guys. They both have several kids, they know how their wives felt during pregnancy—the hormones of a pregnant woman. I'm sure they'll find some kindess to forgive you. You've never done bad before."

"What if I don't get the job back?"

"Get a new job." Ryder smiled a promising smile.

"I yelled out my name, everyone will know how I am." She said as her tears subsided.

"They heard you say you were pregnant, if people are kind enough with compassion than they'll find it in their heart to forgive you." Ryder said, brushing back Marley's soft hair moving his head down towards her face. "You're a nice person Marley, they'll like you in an instant and will forgive you."

He kissed Marley on the lips and pulled back, but kept his forehead on hers. She smiled, resting her head on his shoulders and taking a few deep breaths. "You feeling better, Marley?" She nodded against his head. "Okay, let's go join the others."

Ryder stood up and took hold of Marley's hand, helping her up, and taking the plate of pizza off the table. Holding each others hands the duet smiled and left the bedroom. When the two of them got into the kitchen Marley stopped in mid-walk and held her head, becoming dizzy. Ryder rubbed her back, dropping the plate of pizza and using that hand to hold her body up. Seconds later her dizzy mind passed.

"You okay?" He asked, just as the other guys peaked in from the kitchen dressed in their clean clothes.

Marley nodded. "Yeah, I'm just... fatigued." She said. "Hectic day, I'm just going to bed early."


	23. Memory

**Short chapter? Is that possible?**

**GUYS! HEATHER MORRIS IS PREGNANT! :)**

**I read it on the news earlier. She said it, and her rep said it!**

**I'm so happy for Heather and her boyfriend! Heather will me a magically, awesome, funny and loving Mommy! :)**

**Current Date: October 11.**

* * *

The next morning, Marley awoke with nothing to do as she felt far to lazy, and hungry, to do anything. Buy Baby was craving food and Marley didn't want to get out of the warm bed. She decided to stay in bed for several more minutes before going downstairs and finding something to eat that was low calorie in food. Marley shifted herself to the other side, facing away from the wall and now facing Ryder who was still sleeping. She decided to watch him for the remainder of the time.

She smiled as she observed his facial features. Ryder looked so young and peaceful when he slept; his breathing was just as soft as his eyes were as he slept. She could tell he was having a fantastic dream as that familiar Ryder Lynn smile appeared on his face. She loved that smile, it was her favorite smile to see on him. His dreamy smile, as she called it. Not a twitch, not a spasm, barely any movement of his chest rising and falling with each intake of air such was the depth of his oblivion. This was a sleepy Ryder totally at peace, at rest, at one with himself, rejuvenating his mind and muscles before the onset of yet another day of turmoil and crazy.

She had no idea how he could handle it all. Her and her bizarre mind, her emotional problems, her mental problems, her self-esteem problems and his own problems. Now he had all that to deal with plus her pregnancy, which was adding on to the mental, self-esteem and emotional sides of herself. She gave him credit for that and couldn't image herself now without Ryder being around. He had helped her with everything from school to personal life—friends and relationships and self-esteem. She still felt bad when she went behind his back to go out on a date with Jake. She knew for a fact it was terrible of herself to do that and from that day until a week after loosing Sectionals, she could of been with Ryder. The one who actually had been questioning Marley after the night of _Grease._

She remembered at the end of her first year at McKingly, it was the day after school got out, how Ryder and her started dating.

* * *

_Marley and Ryder had made plans to get pizza at this local place downtown Lima that had a video arcade with pizza inside. One of those usual, typical teenage places to hang out. The two of them sat at a small table outside, soaking in the sunshine on the perfect 75 degree weather. Not too hot and not too cold, just perfect. Ryder glanced over at the girl he loved and took in everything she was wearing and what she was going at the moment._

_Marley was wearing a light pink sundress, with white ballet flats and a white short sleeve cardigan. She had on her new hat she had been saving for for the past several months; a straw floppy hat with a thin black ribbon around the edge of the hat. Her long hair had grown since he first met her, it was now a belly button length. Ryder could see the amazing beauty in her, inside and out. He leaned over and tapped her. She looked over and he saw her cerulean eyes sparkling in the sunshine._

_"Don't burn yourself Marley." He laughed._

_"I'm fine, it's you that gets burned with out sunscreen Ryder." She laughed. She couldn't help but laugh as she observed his appearance. His hair had grown longer and messier (_**a/n: think of The Glee Project 2 hairstyle!)**_ and he was wearing a white short sleeve shirt with boys jean shorts and his brown sneakers. She thought he looked adorable and kind of funny._

_"Shut up," Ryder said as someone came out with two plates and a slice of pizza on each plate was brought out to them. "So, you and Jake doing anything this summer?"_

_Marley went quiet as they began walking towards the nearby park. She played around with the pepperoni slices on her pizza. She shook her head. "No, that's done. It's been done since a week after Sectionals. But he and I are still going to be friends."_

_"Really?" Ryder asked. Jake never mentioned it and yet, now thinking about it, Jake never spoke about dating tips and such. "What happened?"_

_"I thought." Marley said. "For the first time in my life, I actually though to myself. I realized that at the beginning of the year Jake was only interested in me after you and I spoke in the hallway. And then came Kitty... she talked her way through my shield. She told me that you were cancelling our date because you saw me as a fat circus clown."_

_Ryder spat out his pizza bite, as he chocked on it the second those words came from her mouth. He turned to Marley rapidly and said, "No, I never saw that! I said I had an appointment with some specialist for my reading."_

_"I know! I know!" Marley said, smiling in reinsurance. "But I was self-centered and had low self-esteem at the time, and you know Kitty. She finds those traits in victims. And I was stupid to believe all of that. I mean, all those weeks Jake and I were together, I could of been with you. You were interested in me from the very start and didn't give a crap who my Mom was. And by that I mean I heard a rumor that Jake once called my Mom...I'd rather no repeat it, but you know what I mean."_

_"Of course." He said. _

_They were now in the middle of the park on a grassy area. Not many people were around them as most were either working or they were traveling already to far off distance places for vacation. Marley and Ryder were making their way to the large fountain in the middle of the park._

_"You knew who she was from the start and yet, still noticed me." Marley said, looking at Ryder and grinned. "Jake only stopped teasing her when he knew I was related to her. And then he became...what's the word Santana used to describe him? School bad boy who has one thing on his mind and that one thing is commonly a girl's V-Card—"_

_"Puckerman." Ryder said, making them both laugh. "I know. I'd wished I said something earlier and I actually mean say something. Not give small hints, no offense but your terrible at finding those hints."_

_"I knew!" She said. "I just... I didn't know how to react!"_

_"And I never said anything because you seemed happy," Ryder smiled. "You were smiling all the time, laughing and...positive. Unlike before so during that time of your life. I'd do anything to make sure you stayed happy and if that meant you being with Jake and not with me, I'd do that."_

_"You're total love for me. You'd crush that into zillions of pieces, to make me happy?" She grinned._

_"Anything," Ryder said as he took her hand in his. "I'd do anything for you Marley."_

_"Anything?" She asked._

_"Anything."_

_Marley stopped in her steps suddenly. Ryder stopped and stepped in front of her with a puzzled expression on his face. Marley smiled at him as she placed her plate down on the edge of the fountain. She turned back to Ryder and took her hat off. Ryder was still puzzled._

_"Anything to make me happy?" She laughed._

_"Unless it involves me swimming in the fountain. Hobos piss in that water." Ryder laughed. "But yes, anything."_

_"Kiss me." Marley said._

_Ryder didn't say a word. "Pardon?"_

_"Kiss me. On the lips. Right now." Marley said._

_Ryder kept looking at her for several seconds before smiling. He placed his plate down next to Marley's pizza plate and moved closer to Marley, as to close the gap between the two of them. He leaned in and kissed Marley on the lips. His hands were instantly at her waist and pulled her up and towards him. Marley wrapped her thin arms around Ryder's upper torso. Her wrist crossed in the back of his neck, causing her to push Ryder down. Within their kissing they were both smiling._

_The kiss lasted what felt like a lifetime for the two of them. Two minutes later, they pulled away but still held one another close. Forehead-to-forehead._

_"Are you happy now?" Ryder asked._

_"No," She said. "I'm blissful. I'm cheery. I'm in high spirits. I'm joyful, overjoyed, jubilant, chipper, thrilled and walking on sunshine. I'm blessed to have you in my life Ryder Lynn."_

_"I love you Marley. I always have." Ryder said, kissing her again. "And I always will."_

* * *

Marley smiled as the memory died down and Ryder woke up. His brown eyes meeting Marley's cerulean eyes. His squinted eyes of sudden morning turned into squinted eyes of loveliness. "Morning."

"Morning." She smiled, leaning in and kissing his lips. "You look like a baby when you sleep." She said as Ryder turned onto his back. "You look so young and funny." She shifted and rested her head on his chest.

"Nice to know that, I suppose?" He wrapped one arm around Marley and played with her hair. "How long you been awake?"

"A few minutes, not too long. I was just remembering when we started dating when I was a sophomore going to junior year. We were at the park and I said to kiss me, in order to make me happy." She laughed. "I'm so glad that happened."

"Me too." He said. "God Marley, I can't believe how luck I am to have you. I can't believe this is all real."

"I can't believe we're having a baby," Marley said as she felt someone kicking her from the inside. She smiled as she moved her hand over her swollen baby bump and pushed back lightly, feeling their hand or feet pushing back. "Someone's an early riser."

Ryder moved one of his hands over the belly and felt someone pushing against his hand too. He smiled. "It's a boy, they're kicking."

"Girls kick too."

"Good because if this is a girl, or if we have any girls, she can kick boys asses as soon as they flirt with her. " Ryder laughed.

* * *

**Ha ha. Just wanted to write a small fluff chapter. This wasn't planned, but I thought I'd explain how Marley and Ryder came together and how them plus Jake are still friends.**

**~ Ember411.**


	24. Skinny

**Wow!? Almost at 100 reviews! I'm so so so so SO excited! I never thought I would get that many reviews for this Ryley story. I'm so excited to being doing a sequel, prequel and a sequel to the sequel (if that makes sense!)**

**Thank you all SO SO much for reviewing, each and everyone one of you, for reading all the chapters and reviewing them. I love them and I love receiving an e-mail that says _You've got a new review!_ or something along the lines of that, ha ha ha. So to thank you all for being SO awesome!, here's another chapter :)**

**Song: Skinny**

**Lyrics by Edith Buckland.**

**Current Date: October 14.**

* * *

The next few days Marley stayed home as she had nothing to do. Unique and Santana told her to take one of those classes that help with breathing during labor. Marley refused since she didn't feel like it was worth is. It was just a bunch of breathing, who cared? She was waiting for Ryder to come back from grocery shopping as the two of them were meeting up with Wilson at support group. She missed the last one, not feeling like going as she had a mental breakdown on everything lately.

She was reading a baby name book that she found at a thrift store the other day while she was with Unique shopping. It had over one thousand names for babies in alphabetical order. Though she and Ryder picked some names from their earlier list, Marley still wanted to see if she could find more. Call it mother instincts but Marley had a feeling that none of the names fitted the little child inside of her.

The nursery was almost done. The only thing left was to bring in the materials—crib, changing table, wardrobe, lamp, rocking chair, carpet and a few other things. She couldn't wait until she saw the nursery room and be able to put her baby to bed every night. When they turn into toddler's she'd read them all her favorite fairy tale stories. She couldn't wait.

Marley was alone in the house and being bored. Nothing to watch on television and she grew tired of the baby name book. She heard her stomach rawr and rubbed her belly. "Okay Baby," She said in a soft voice. "Let's see what's in the house."

Marley got up and went into the kitchen and looked everywhere for food. The only food she could find were the snickerdoodle cookies and sugar wafer cookies she had made yesterday while babysitting Max. She ended up take a few of those snickerdoodles and eating them. She found them...delicious. Beautifully delicious. She took several more bites of what she took than took several wafers.

She stopped in the middle of a cookie and thought for a second. Ten calories per cookie, she was in the middle of her twenty eighth cookie. Two hundred eight calories. Marley spat the one out of her mouth and wiped off the crumbs from her tongue. She rapidly threw away the rest of the cookies and left for upstairs to the bathroom.

Upstairs before she could run into the bathroom she saw that the the cold air from the October weather was in the house and coming from an open door. Not fully open, but lightly enough that the light from the window inside was shinning on the floor. Marley went to shut the door and realized that this was the nursery room. She closed it, keeping her hand on the knock, and thought. She realized what she was doing. She held back her tears as she took a deep breath.

"No, I'm not going to vomit. Baby, honey, can you hear me?" Marley asked, glimpsing down at her baby belly. "You like those cookies? They're very yummy. I enjoyed them too—I just had a spasm attack, I guess you could call it. Don't worry, that's staying inside of me Baby."

* * *

Marley left for the bedroom to change out of her pajamas and into something else. She stripped to her bra and underwear and was in the middle of looking for her dress. Several minutes looking into the piles of messy clothes she was to wash and put away, she found the purple floral dress she loved that was given to her as a gift from Mrs. Pillsburry **(A/N: The dress Marley wore in _Dynamic Duets_ while she's painting the wall during the _Heros_ song!)**

Just as she was about to toss the dress on she passed by a mirror. She depressingly faced the mirror and found herself in the mirror. A skeleton, almost, with some of her bones showing. Her long thin arms clutched together and close to her chest as she saw herself in the mirror.

But she didn't see herself. She saw, instead, a huge person. With a thick face, thick arms, thick chest and thick torso. Everything was huge. Her body in her reflection couldn't even fit into the mirror. Her cerulean eyes grew wildly as she saw herself in the mirror.

In a matter of seconds she visioned herself in a room. A room made entirely of mirrors, all reflecting her huge circus sized body. Marley was standing in the middle, still in her position, and spinning around on a merry-go-round facing all the mirrors that reflected her huge body. She heard two voices in the room with her. One of Kitty's, the other...she was shocked at what she was hearing from them.

_"Fat ass I said 'I Do' too. Not even good in bed."_

_"Happens when you marry a circus clown." _Kitty's voice said. (Just as the slow music began, and Marley began singing seconds later).

_**Marley**  
Mirror, mirror on the wall  
__Ruthless to your victim  
__Suiting you becomes my love  
__Tied to my reflection  
__Hunger takes a hold of me  
__Making my decisions  
__Glossy fashion magazines will feed my new addiction_

_**Kitty (far off distance voice)**  
Skinny_

_**Marley**_  
_All these voices singing_

_**Kitty**  
__Skinny_

_**Marley**_  
_All my monsters singing_

_**Kitty**  
Skinny_

_**Marley**_  
_Got to fit that new bikini_

_**Kitty**  
Skinny_

_**Marley**  
All the world is singing_

**_Kitty  
_**_Skinny_

**_Marley_**  
_All them girls are swinging_  
_Got to fit that new bikini_

_Hiding in my baggy jeans_  
_No one knows my secret_  
_Hiding from the eyes that see_  
_I have been defeated_

_Mirror, mirror on mywall_  
_Ruthless to your victim_  
_Suiting you is all I know_  
_A slave to my reflection_

_**Kitty**  
Skinny_

_**Marley**_  
_All these voices singing_

_**Kitty:**  
Skinny_

_**Marley**_  
_All my monsters singing_

_**Kitty**  
Skinny_

_**Marley**  
Got to fit that new bikini_

_**Kitty**  
Skinny_

_**Marley**_  
_All the world is singing_

_**Kitty:**  
__Skinny_

_**Marley**_  
_All them girls are swinging_  
_Got to fit that new bikini_

_**Kitty**  
Being thin, and not eating, are signs of true willpower and success._

_**Ryder**  
You can never be to thin._

**_Marley, Ryder Kitty_**

_Skinny_

_Skinny_

_Skinny_

**_Marley_**

_Skinny_

* * *

Marley was brought back to reality after that. She was facing the mirror, still clutching her dress tightly. She had tears in her eyes as she rapidly left the bedroom and towards the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom Marley ran to the toilet and began forcing herself to vomit. Fingers in the back of her throat, deeply, as the cookies and the acid burned her throat and fell into the toilet. She did this for ten minutes, feeling all the contents inside of her finally leave her body and make her feel lighter. She sat back, taking deep breaths, as she calmed down and took a look into the toilet.

_Disgusting_, she thought._ I can't believe I ate all that shit. That's disgusting and...revolting._

But seconds later she was crying. After she flushed the toilet she was crying, having a terrible headache and feeling terrible. "I can't believe I just did that! I can't believe I just did that!"

She repeated this as she went into the bedroom again and put the dress on. Maybe if she relaxed a little before Ryder came back, than she'd have enough time to subside the tears and act as if nothing happened.

Ryder came through the front door. "Hey Marley!"

_Shi..._ Marley thought, wiping the tears away. She quickly got up and left for downstairs where she met Ryder in the kitchen. "Hi Ryder."

"How you doing?" He asked and kissed her on the lips. When he pulled back he saw the reds where her whites should be. "Marley? What happened?"

"N-Nothing." She stuttered.

"Don't lie to me." He said in a strict voice, deathly staring into her eyes as if he were staring at her soul. "What happened?"

Marley's expression was that of shock, attempting to think of something to tell Ryder. She wanted to lie, but couldn't, as she had lied to him before and that didn't smooth well over Ryder for a few days. Marley held it together for the entire time. She faced down, not daring to look into his deep and trustful dark brown eyes.

Marley broke down. Deep, long and hot tears down her face. She went down onto her knees bawling. "I'm a terrible person!" She cried.

Ryder went down a second later, pulling Marley into a tight and protective hug, rubbing her back and kissing the side of her head. He wasn't stupid, he knew what happened. He knew why Marley was calling herself a terrible person. She wasn't a terrible person, though. "Shhh, Marley it's okay..." His soft velvet voice comforted Marley. Or at least tried too. "Marley it's fine, really. It's okay."

"No it's not! I'm pregnant, how can I be fine if I'm doing this crap to our baby!?" She faced him. "I'm suppose to take care of the baby while it's inside of me and... I'm a terrible person!"

"No you're not." Ryder strictly told her.

"I'm a terrible person!" She ignored his comment. "I'm a terrible person and I'm a terrible parent! I'm not even a mother and already I'm the worst parent in the world!"

"No!" Ryder said a bit loudly, causing Marley to gawk at him in surprise. "Marley Elizabeth Rose-Lynn, you are _not_ a terrible person. You _will not_ be a terrible mother. You'll be an amazing mother with wise wisdom and witty advise for our children. You are and will continue to be the best damn person in the world. I love you Marley, I love everything about you. I wish you could see yourself the way I and everyone around will see you."

Marley smiled a small smile.

"And when our son or daughter are born, they will have the best Mommy in the world," Ryder smiled as he leaned his forehead against hers. "You'll be a great Mommy."

Marley forced a half smile. She was happy how Ryder could make her cheery when she was down, but she still felt like a miserable person. "I'll... I'll try to be okay now. I love you."

"I love you too." Ryder said, kissing her forehead. "Ready for Wilson?"

Marley shook her head. "Not today, please? Not after what I just did."

Ryder wanted Marley to go see Wilson, but he couldn't force her to go. Instead he nodded with a smile and said OK with it. He then stood up, pulled her up, and walked over to the couch with her. As she rested on the couch then Ryder took a blanket and covered her with it. "Try to get some sleep now, okay?"

Marley nodded. Ryder and her kissed, then he left. Marley tried to get some sleep but she kept thinking about the bathroom incident. It made her feel worse when she heard Ryder flush the toilet upstairs. She sighed and placed her hands on her belly.

_Baby? Can you hear me? I'm sorry about what happened. I swear, I tried to get better. But it's not working right now. I can't stop myself Baby, I really did try to stop. But I'm weak. I'm sorry._

_I'm sorry, Baby._

_I've given up._

_Please Baby, forgive me._


	25. A Calm Before The Storm

**So I'm so close to finishing the story! I'm so excited and starting soon I will start on the sequel. Right now I'm just writing out the first few chapters of the sequel. I, like I said before, I'm making a sequel to the sequel. And a prequel to the story, with Marley in college. It'll be so fun to write about and interesting.**

**Current Date: October 16**

* * *

Coughing and sniffling for the second day in the row, Marley was reading her novel as she was grabbing her army green button down jacket and the two dog leaches, all whilst holding her book in one hand. It had to be the fifth million time that Marley had read _The Hunger Games_ novel since she first read it. She couldn't help it though as she loved the story. She loved how Katniss was so brave enough to go into the game, going in for her sister, and being the first to volunteer to be in the game. Marley laughed as she remembered in high school when Ms. Schue asked the group if someone could volunteer their time to watch his ex-wife's sisters children for the afternoon on Saturday. Marley stood up and yelled, "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" Only to realize she would be watching the three little devil children she had babysat before and...long story short, Marley had green hair for a week.

It was raining outside. Though it wasn't too bad, it was still crappy outside. Ryder came down the stairs from taking a shower, only in his bathrobe, and smiled as he saw that Marley didn't notice him, standing there with her back faced to him and reading her novel. He tiptoed over to Marley and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaned over to her side and kissed her cheek.

"What are you reading?" He asked her as he looked down and read four words:_ I volunteer as tribute!_ only to him it was something else. "I uonlvmteer as tridute?"

"I volunteer!" Marley shouted with a bright smile on her face. "I volunteer at tribute!"

"Oh God, not again!" Ryder laughed. "Our children are going to think we live _The Hunger Games_ world and not Lima."

"Alright with me." Marley said. "I'm just finishing the last chapter then going out."

"Where to?"

"Walking Ollie and Odette." Marley said. "I didn't get a chance when I woke up this morning to take them out, so I'm going to take them out when I finish reading thing." She coughed a few more times.

Ryder placed his hand over her forehead and felt hot heat from there. "Nope, you're staying inside."

"I'm fine." Marley said.

"Nope, still sick, babe." Ryder said. "I'll walk them after I get dressed, okay?"

"No Ryder, I'll be fine. Honestly, it's just a small cold." Marley said. She coughed a few more times after saying that. She sniffed when she gazed back at Ryder with watery eyes. "See? A small cold."

"Hmm hmmm." Ryder said and gave her a peck on her cheek. "I'll walk them, alright?"

"Fine." Marley said as she handed the leaches to him and walked away to finish reading her novel. She felt disappointed that she couldn't walk the dogs.

An hour later Ryder came back from walking the dogs and found Marley on the couch still reading her novel. She paid little attention to him walking inside with his total wet self. He came over and kissed the side of her cheek. "Hey."

"Hi." Marley greeted, turning back to him. "How'd they do?"

"Nothing. Neither of them." Ryder said, getting on his knees and getting eye contact with her. "I hope potty training will be easier than taking the dogs out."

"Usually they're potty trained between two years and three years." Marley said. "But maybe we'll have a smarty baby who'll be potty trained at a year old."

"Good," Ryder said with a smile. "Want soup?"

Marley shook her head. She didn't eat anything this morning at breakfast and for lunch she had a few crackers. She wasn't too hungry now, but know she would later. "No, but I've got a ten here," She pulled it out. "Can you go to the store and get some strawberry ice cream for me?"

"Sure. And I'll cover you." He stood back up. "Anything else?"

"Rent a movie from the only video store in town that still rents out VHS films?" She asked. "I'm completely done reading every novel in this house. Like Belle from the start of_ Beauty and the Beas_t, going to the book store everyday."

Ryder smirked and got closer to her. "Your sick." He said.

"Yes, I'm sick and tired of not having a novel in the house to read when I'm bored." She laughed.

"I'm willing to get sick." He continued.

"Pardon?" Marley got suspicious.

"We can play doctor when I get back," He smiled with dark and loving eyes. "Then have the ice cream."

Marley gazed at him for several seconds before grinning and rolling her eyes. "Oh, okay, Dr. Ryder Lynn of the Lame Sexual Game Choices."

* * *

About an hour later Ryder was still out and Marley was still trying to keep herself entertained. She ended up watching one of her favorite comedy-drama films, _Beaches_ until Ryder came home. While she enjoyed the film she started to feel miserable. She felt cold to her bones, her head was pounding, she felt like sweat was dripping off herself, she felt like she was going to vomit and she couldn't think straight.

She got up to heat up some leftover chicken soup Ryder made the night before for her. While it was warming up in the microwave she sat down and ignored the pain. She was taking deep breaths until she heard scratching at the door. She glanced over and saw the big pups scratching at the door. Now they had to go? Marley got up and grabbed the dog leaches as well as her army jacket.

She attached the dogs to the leaches, zippered herself up, left a note for Ryder and left for the rain. It got heavier, the rain, but not a storm. Just a lot.

She walked down the street, about a twenty minute walk, as she began to feel...worse. She just wanted the dogs to do their business, get home and eat her food and have hot chocolate. She didn't feel like having sexual encounters with Ryder anymore. She just wanted to get back home.

"Come on guys, do something please?" She asked the pups. She saw one of them lift their leg up and the other starting to sit down. "Thank you...oh no, I forgot the poop bag... oh well, nobody will know. There's nobody out here."

She was right about that. Nobody was outside and the lights in the neighborhood were off, indicating that everyone was asleep. It was only nine at night too. Or was it ten? Marley had no idea what time it was and didn't care really about the time.

She stood still as the dogs sniffed around and continued to do their business in new spots. Marley's headache came back and she shivered more, wishing she had brought more rain protection to keep her warm. But she was shivering, cold, felt fatigued and wanted to just get home. As she shivered and tried to warm herself up. She left herself get sick again as she felt like she was going to vomit, but she couldn't and her body wouldn't let her. And no way was she going to stick her fingers in her throat again.

She began to breath deeply, trying to catch her breath. She was glaring down at the cold wet crosswalk, feeling herself become dizzy. She felt sweaty again and felt extremely hot in the clothing. She glimpsed down at her baby belly, rubbing it, and began to sing.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you—"

Everything went black.


	26. The Calm Before A Storm

**Current Date: October 16.**

* * *

Ryder left the house to get the ice cream for Marley and rent the video. Sure, they were going to being doing something else later, but he knows eventually at some point over the weeknend she'll want to watch a movie so he decided to get one.

He got the movie first. Then took the bus ride over to the store. "I really need to get a car soon. Now with a family on the way."

At the store Ryder walked along the empty aisle looking for the strawberry ice cream Marley wanted for the night. Walking down the long aisle he passed by billions of flavors until he saw the strawberry flavor she loved. He grabbed the carton of ice cream and began walking down the aisle. Half way passed the aisle he heard an unfamiliar voice behind him.

"Ryder Lynn eating strawberry flavor ice cream?" The familiar sound of a blonde questioned. "Since when? Isn't that, like, your least flavor of all time?"

Ryder took in a deep breath before flipping off the girl behind him. "Shut up."

"Lookm Good Looking Smile Face but Creepy Beiber Hair, why don't you just admit it to yourself." Kitty said.

"Admit what?" Ryder turned around. "And what are you doing here? Aren't you suppose to be in New York, kissing some royal New York family asses?"

"Business trip with my husband and I'd figure I see how Dead Dog is doing." Kitty bluntly said. "But with the ice cream in your hands I can't help but think how her circus genetics and usual pregnancy weight work together and not crush that little child inside."

"Kitty shut up." Ryder said. "You honestly don't give a shit about Marley. I understand and I've understand, everyone has understood, since high school that you're a jealous freak because everyone liked nice girl Marley and not blonde bottle bitch Kitty. And I still haven't forgotten all the problems you gave to Marley during high school and still made her do what she did—"

"That was _her_ choice. Only she could stop herself from doing that."

"How? Continue all the constant insults about her?"

"She didn't _have to_ listen to me. But she did, so that's her fault."

"And you don't have to be the wicked bitch of the middle-west in Lima, Kitty." Ryder said. "But now, even though you live in a different state, you _CONTINUE_ to mock Marley and her weight!" Ryder screeched. "How the fuck do you wake up in the morning and know for a fact that you're going to turn people down and make them feel worthless to the world? How in the world are you MARRIED to a nice guy? Are you blackmailing him?"

"Look nobody has to listen to me and nobody has to take my advice. But she did and therefore it's all her fault that she's in this situation. Plus also if she's actually receiving help from that Wilson guy, why does she continue to do what she does?"

"Kitty, that's none of your business." Ryder told her bluntly. "It's none of your business and it's not even mine. It's Marley's. If she wants to share it with me, than it's fine. But until then nobody can control Marley but Marley."

"Whatever." Kitty said walking away. "Later Lima Loser."

"Bitch." Ryder said as he turned around to the check-out.

* * *

A while later, hitting the late night traffic, Ryder got home to find the lights still on.

Inside he called out for Marley, but didn't hear anything. "Marley? Marley, I've got ice cream!"

He didn't see her in the living room, nor the kitchen, until he found the note on the paper. Printed in large letters.

**RYDER**

**OLLIE AND ODETTE HAD TO TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS, SO I TOOK THEM OUT. I WILL RETURN LATER.**

**MARLEY**

Ryder placed the ice cream down and looked outside in the backyard. He didn't find her there so he went out the front door and began walking down the street looking for Marley.

Fifteen minutes into the walk he didn't find her. "Dammit Marley. When I say to not go out in this weather because your sick, I kind of hope you don't go out into this weather. I hope our kids aren't like this either." He said to himself, as the rain began to hit harder.

He heard to dogs bark. When he turned he found Ollie and Odette running back to the direction of the house, with their leaches flying behind them. Marley wasn't there. Ryder's eyes grew wide as he frantically ran in their direction.

"Marley!?" He called out. "Marley!? Marley answer me! Marley where are you? Marley!? MARLEY!"

A few minutes later he stopped in the middle of running. Through the thickness of the pouring rain he could see a large lump in the middle of the crosswalk. The lump was laying on it's side, almost in a dead position. Like the person was shot at and automatically fell down. Or as if someone had...

Fainted.

"Marley!"


	27. Shoot Stars! Episode Message

**This isn't part of the story. And this isn't me ranting. I just wanted to express how I felt watching _Shooting Stars_ on April 11, 2013. And I'm only writing about the scene when the gun went off, to the end. Not the beginning or Ryder's catfish girlfriend comments stuff or some of the aftermath of the shooting! Just what happened DURING the events!**

**I shot up from my couch, watching the episode, and began shaking and worrying. As everyone was hiding in different corners of the room I was still shaking. It wasn't until I heard one of the girls begin to cry that I had tears down my face.**

**I didn't notice that Tina or Brittany weren't in the room until Sam and Blaine both mentioned it.**

**I freaked out.**

**Then they showed Brittany in the bathroom, standing on the toilet, and when I saw the tears... I had goosebumps.**

**I was freaking out the entire time.**

**When most of the kids in the room were moving from one side of the room to the other, to be with certain people, I felt my heart rise with bliss, but sank for sadness. Sam crying, dying to go and find Brittany, made me feel...wordless!**

**And Kitty and Marley's friendship increased. I'm glad they're friends, though the circumstances it took to MAKE them friends was a terrible one!**

**When Marley was constantly texting her mom and freaking, I loved how Kitty was comforting Marley. That was amazing!**

**When Kitty went over to hug Wade/Unique, I shook.**

**Ryder moving over to Jake and Marley, I shook.**

**I cried when I saw Tina worrying about everyone in the class, trying to get herself inside by asking permission. And when she was finally told "No!", I hated her crying!**

**I loved that the person taping was taping, and everyone left messages.**

**When Mr. Schue went out to GET Brittany (and the other two people who were hidiing) I LOVED HIM. He risked his own life to save his babies (yes, I consider all the Glee kids as Will's babies!)**

**When they yelled "clear!" "all clear!" and EVERYONE got up and hugged each other and kissed and got into a family hug...**

**Words can NOT express how I felt at the moment!**

**And the end of "Say", when the family cried and hugged again... I felt the same as the Choir room hug.**

**Wordless.**

**Thank you Ryan Murphay and the entire cast and crew of GLEE, for making this episode. It showed the love, the last chances we need to take in this world and best of all...family.**

**:)**


	28. It's Just A Small Part Of The Start

**So in the last "chapter" I expressed how I felt during the shooting. Now, I will Rant about the rest of the episode.**

**Rant: Guys, I loved Sue in this episode! She put her career on the line for BECKY! I was grinning like an idiot when I saw that. It was amazing.  
****~ Brittany's love song for Lord Tubbington, I laughed, it was funny. And now there's LADY Tubbington! How amazing! (especially at the end of Sam's goodbye video when he says there is a cat!)  
****~ "Hide your wive, hide yours kids...hide your wives." Epic. Just Epic!  
****~ Also... HOW DARE SOMEBODY CATFISH RYDER! WHY WOULD SOMEBODY DO THAT TO HIM? WHY? And who could it be? "Katie's" phone went off int he music room and I'm hoping it was coming from Marley. But, who knows? Oh wait, Ryan Murphy and the others know! PLEASE BE MARLEY AND LET MARLEY HAVE A REASON!  
****~ No, it won't be Marley, I'm just letting my Ryley Optimistic Self rise up again. But, please no, not KITTY! BLAH! If anything, just make them Friends. I can't see...Ritty...or more like, Rytty! JUST NO!**

**Now... ON TO 'GROWING PAINS'!**

**Current Date: October 16**

* * *

Marley felt like a billion bricks hitting her in the front of her head when she woke up. Her head killed in throbbing pain, nauseous to the pit of her stomach and breathing deeply. Her eyes flutter opened to the sudden bright lights and as they adjusted to the bright she heard some shifting and shuffling from her left side. She shifted her eyes over and as her eyes continued to adjust, she recognized the brown haired boy in his short sleeve blue shirt and dark blue jeans. The familiar boy crunched down next to her so that he was eye-to-eye with her Marley.

"Hi Marley." Ryder said. Marley could hear from his voice that he had been crying for a while now. When Marley's eyes adjusted fully, she saw his swollen eyes puffed and bawled out sobs scarlet red. He took a piece of her long hair and twisted it around his fingers. He grinned like some blissful idiot. "You woke up."

"My head hurts." She muttered under her breath, feeling the pain in her head slowly get better but the pain throbbing like a drum.

"I know." Ryder said and kissed her forehead. "You hit the ground pretty hard."

"The ground?" Marley asked. "Where...where am I?"

"You're at the hospital, Marley." Ryder told her softly. "You fainted while you were walking Ollie and Odette and I called for help. One of the neighbors called 9-1-1 for us."

Marley started at him as if he were lying to her. She then pushed herself up a little bit and glanced around the scenery. The room walls were a disgusting creme color with a t.v on the wall and a table and random pictures that she believed all patients in the room were suppose to enjoy. She found them odd looking. She then sat back down as she placed a hand on her temple, rubbing it lightly.

She then popped up again with ghost eyes, "Baby!?" She looked down at her torso and found, not only the clothes she had left in when she went to walk the dogs, but also a baby belly there. Was she still carrying the child or did the hospital force a C-section on Marley? She placed her hands on the side of her torso and quickly looked towards Ryder.

"Baby's fine." He said.

"Really?" She asked, uncertainty written on her face.

"I think so. But some nurse is coming in to check on the baby." Ryder said.

It was just on cue when a nurse came into the room, pushing in a portable ultrasound machine thing. Once set up both the machine and Marley, the nurse began to play around on her belly checking the fetus inside of Marley. After several seconds of smiling and saying that everything seemed to be totally fine, her smile went away as some things came up on the small computer in words and numbers that Marley and Ryder couldn't understand.

She left the room quickly, saying that everything was fine. But Marley could sense when someone was lying in situations like this and she started to worry. She spaced out once more into her own wandering mind. She began asking herself the same questions as well as playing the blame game on herself again: _What's wrong? What's wrong with our baby? Did I do something? Oh no I did something! It's all my fault! I did something wrong! Marley you idiot, dim-witted, slime-bomb, turkey brain—why didn't you eat anything lately? God Marley, if you had eaten something for the past few days than you wouldn't of frigging passed out fainted! Then be in this place and nothing bad would of happened! Baby, what's wrong with you? Baby please don't go away, please stay with me baby!_

Ryder turned back from the door just in time to see Marley's face expression. He knew in an instant where Marley's mind was and just as instantly kissed her cheeks, bringing Marley back to Earth. "Everything's fine."

"When did you graduate from high honor graduate school?" Marley sarcastically asked, but bitter in her voice of tone.

"Last weekend." Ryder laughed. "No, really, I'm sure Baby's fine, Marley." Ryder said, kissing her on the cheek again.

Minutes later a doctor and the same nurse came in seconds later, both with poker faces. Marley's heart rate began to slow down with each step the doctor and the nurse. Finally when close to the two worried parents-to-be, Marley was gripping Ryder's hand to death for her life. She was close to tears and her breathing slowly declined.

"Everything's okay, right?" Ryder questioned, with doubt in his voice.

"I'm sorry," The doctor said.


	29. Decisions

**Hi! Two update within one day? I'm so freaking happy!**

* * *

_Minutes later a doctor and the same nurse came in seconds later, both with poker faces. Marley's heart rate began to slow down with each step the doctor and the nurse. Finally when close to the two worried parents-to-be, Marley was gripping Ryder's hand to death for her life. She was close to tears and her breathing slowly declined._

_"Everything's okay, right?" Ryder questioned, with doubt in his voice._

_"I'm sorry," The doctor said._

Marley was quick enough to let tears out and start sobbing, loosing herself at the moment. Ryder was rapid enough to pull her into a hug and hold her tightly.

"It's the heart," The doctor added in.

Marley looked back at them. puzzled written on her face as she tried to...just at least... take in what they had just told Marley. "What?"

"The baby's heart rate," She said. "It's going down a little bit. Kind of common in some pregnancies, but usually never at six months. You see..."

For the next few minutes he was explaining what was happening, using medical terms that Marley (or Ryder) even knew existed. Yes again; neither of them were in the medical departments.

When he finished Ryder asked, "So what happens now?"

"We monitor the heart. If it goes up, than we're good, if it stays the same or it keeps bumping up and down we're keeping you here Marley. If it continued to go down we'll have to do a C-section." The doctor explained.

"Is...Is the baby okay enough to do one?" Marley asked. "I mean, am I far enough?"

"About 24 to 25 weeks along you are. So it's not the best, if you were at 30 or up more than it be perfect. But your closer to the perfect week so it won't be too bad. But you still be delivering early." She explained. "We'll wait a few minutes and check on the baby's heart."

The doctor and the nurse left. Ryder and Marley sat there silent, both secretly praying that the heart rate would go back up soon and that everything would feel fine.

Though call it mother's instincts, Marley felt like nothing was going to workout for her or the baby. She leaned back into the pillow, crying and sucking in the air, fighting to keep the new tears back as the one that were already released were gliding down her face and onto the bed.

Ryder, actually managing to hold everything back, wiped away Marley's tears. He gave a fainted smile and hoped that it would somehow, in someway, would make Marley feel better. His way of showing that everything was going to be alright. Even though he knew better. If born this early there was a slight chance of survival.

But adding to Marley's challenge throughout the pregnancy, the baby probably didn't gain enough weight that it should be at this month of the pregnancy. Thus being born smaller than usual.

That scared him the most.

Marley sat up in the bed, tears subsided and taking a deep breath holding Ryder's hand. They both glimpsed at one another with sad eyes, telling each other their worries and their other other thoughts on everything right now.

"You know what I think." Ryder said softly. "But I'll go with whatever you want, okay?"

Marley sucked in her air and nodded slowly, her eyes closing and using her other hand to rub her baby belly. _Don't worry Baby, you're going to be just fine._

Minutes later the doctor from before came into the room. She checked the monitor before turning to Ryder and Marley.

"I don't see much changes, Marley. We can wait longer or do an emergency C-section. Your choice." She informed the duet, in a sad voice.

Marley gripped Ryder's hand tightly. taking slow and deep breaths and said what they were going to do.

"I'm not risking anything. But... C-section."


	30. Hello, Baby Lynn

**I am no medical doctor. So I have NO idea if you're allowed to fall asleep whilst they stitch you up from a C-section. However I assume yes, because they have certain C-sections when they knock you out COMPLETELY. So for the purpose of this, though, I'm having Marley fall asleep from the medicine.**

* * *

Minutes later Marley was prepared for the C-section. She was given the medicine that would make her numb, feeling no pain during the cut in. However God knows what was going on with Marley as whatever it was that they gave her, was making her feel sleepy. But she wanted to be awake.

Inside the room Marley laid on a bed table thing, with a divider between her upper half and her lower half, cutting off exactly a little above her stomach area. She didn't like it. She rather see the bloody child being taken out of her rather than just not see her baby at all.

Her reaction to the numb medicine they gave to Marley, she kept knocking in and out of focus. She see blurry faces, she see clear faces, she hear some voices, she didn't hear voices making their sentences complete.

Minutes later Marley was in the room. Because she was really in and out of it, mainly in, it but not focusing on anything but Ryder's comforting face and the thoughts of positive blesses and blessings. All during which she was cut open.

She kept focus on Ryder and took note of everything. His dark brown hair, his square type face, his nose, his eyes that glared back at her a majority of the time (a few times looking over the divider to see what was going on) but always going back into Marley's deep cerulean eyes as soon as he was done with looking over the divider. Marley would see him smile and his mouth move, but she couldn't hear his voice speaking to her. She assumed they were some words of comfort.

Ryder, from his side, was taping from his phone camera. Honestly he knew for a fact Marley would beat the living crap out of him for doing it, but he knew she wanted to see what happened while she was half way knocked out from the numb medicine and obviously see what's happening at the lower half of the body. It was basically what he had always seen on television. Cutting, some digging, stuff like that.

Thirty seconds later Marley, now deeply tired and wanted to fall asleep at the moment, was trying to focus all her energy on the baby. She was slowly loosing to the sleep dust fairy, but she then heard a voice. Faintly.

_"We got someone for you two,"_ A nurse said. _"There's Daddy and Mama."_ They said to a little thing in her hands, a crying pitch from her hands.

Though Marley, still looking at Ryder, saw him smiling and waving and crying, she faced but saw nothing but blurs from the tears on her eyes. But it was alright because they were tears of joy. Marley smiled, waving at the little thing before it was taken away for medical check ups and the doctors began to sew Marley back up.

_"Where...they...go?"_ Marley asked, slowly feeling sleepy.

_"Check ups,"_ Ryder said, kissing Marley on the lips. _"Aw Marley,"_ He then said something else, but Marley didn't know what it was. A minute later she asked what he said.

_"You did good Marley," _He kissed her again. _"You did amazingly fantastic."_

Marley grinned. _'Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad.'_ she silently said to herself. _"You did good too, Ryder. You were good," _ She smiled. _"Daddy."_

"_Not as much as you, Mommy."_ He grinned at Marley.

_"I'm... I'm so sleepy." _Marley yawned. She heard a doctor's voice tell Ryder something. _"What?"_

_"You can go to sleep, Marley."_ Ryder said. _"They said you can go to sleep now. So go to sleep honey and when you wake up, you can see our baby—"_

Marley was out like a light bulb before he could finish. As soon as she heard 'Go to sleep honey', she went out. Ryder smiled, leaning down and kissing her once more before he left to check on the newborn.

* * *

**Eeeks! She had the baby! I was so excited to write this chapter! Now that it's written... I'm sad. But, yey! She had the baby. Now answer these 2 questions.**

**1: What do YOU think is going to happen next?**

**2: What do YOU think the gender AND the name of their baby is/will be?**

**Review the chapter AND answer the questions please, and thank you :)**

**~ Ember411.**


	31. It's A

**I can't believe I'm nearly done with this story. Just this chapter and the next, then the dedication page! I'm so freaking happy and sad. Happy it's over, but sad because I enjoyed writing this story. Like one of my reviewers pointed out in early chapters, not everyone in the Glee section (when writing about Marley), keeps up with her eating disorder. And the fact that so far I'm the first one to write about Marley's eating disorder and include her life outside of high school and a pregnancy mixed in... yeah, I'm proud.**

**So let's let go of that and continue, okay?**

* * *

Marley awoke the next morning. For someone who just went through what Marley just went though, Marley actually felt perfectly fine. She felt some pain in her body that ached a little bit. She fluttered her eyes open and adjusted them to the brightness in her hospital recovery room. White walls with green curtains, peach hospital bed sheets and the warmth of the hospital heating system hitting her skin of her bare arms.

She shifted to her side, still attempting to adjust to the sudden brightness. She sucked in the air around her and took a deep breathe. She was going to see her baby later. She didn't care if she was forced to walk barefooted on hot molten lava or needles that still contained illegal drugs, she was going to see her little baby.

Marley saw someone enter the room, wearing jeans and a long sleeve gray shirt. They stood still for a moment, grinning, then continued over to Marley and got on their knees. They her hand and pressed his lips against her knuckles.

"Morning Mommy." Ryder grinned.

"Morning Daddy," She smiled back. "Were you up all night?"

"I slept for about an hour on the chair here, a while ago." Ryder said. "But you were out like a light bulb in the emergency room."

"Is Baby okay?" Marley asked. "Can I go see them? I want to go see my baby, Ryder." Marley spat out her questions.

Ryder laughed as he held her hand again and kissed it. "We can go see Baby in a while, just try to wake up first. I got you a cider doughnut and a apple cider."

Marley shook her head. "No, not now, I just want to see baby." She tried to get out of the bed, but Ryder stood up and push her back down lightly. "Ryder, I want to see my baby!"

"I know, I know, but just sit down and wake up first. We'll go see them in a while," He said. He then smiled and leaned down to kiss Marley on the lips. "They have your nose."

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Marley asked, getting excited to know what she had. She didn't care now if she had one or the other, she just wanted a baby that was supposedly healthy and ready to leave the hospital within a few days.

Ryder grinned. "I'm going to get yelled at."

"I won't yell at you. How in the world can I yell at you for something that is completely not in our control, and only in the control of..." Marley thought for a second. "Actually, it'd be your fault. The last set of chromosomes determines the gender of the baby. XX for a girl and XY for a boy. So, it's your fault if the gender isn't what you want."

"Shut up," Ryder laughed. "So it's my fault that, in the future, I'm always going to be wrong?"

"Yes." Marley said.

Ryder kept quiet.

"So? Boy or girl?"

"Marley, I'm always going to be wrong in the future." He said again.

Marley just kept staring at him, having no idea what he was saying to her. _That sentence could work both ways with each gender_, she thought.

"Ryder, just tell me if it's a boy or girl!" Marley asked, getting more and more excited.

Ryder grinned at her. Marley read his facial expressions carefully, reading everything closely. He nodded towards her. She took several more seconds to think before her eyes grew large and she grinned wildly.

"A girl?" She whispered loudly, hoping she had read his face expressions correctly. "We had a girl?"

Ryder nodded, smiling.

"We had a girl!" Marley said again, more happier than before. "Oh I've always wanted a little girl since I was a little girl!"

"Yeah, she's just as beautiful as you." Ryder said.

"Is she okay? How's her health?"

"She's...She'll be fine." Ryder said, giving her a reassuring kiss on her lips. "We'll go see her in a little while."

"Okay." Marley said, leaning back in the bed and resting her head on the pillow. "I love you." She took his hand in hers.

"I love you too." Ryder said and leaned in to kiss her nose. "I've got a few family calls to make, I'll be back in a while, okay?"

"Okay." Marley said.

Ryder left the room. Marley laid on the bed, smiling. She glanced up at the ceiling smiling, with tears in her eyes, and a hand covering her smiling mouth.

_Thank you Mom. Thank you Daddy. Thank you God. Thank You Jesus. Thank you Saints. Thank you, everyone, for giving me my baby girl. I know I can do this. I know I can raise her and give her a good life; better than what I had... No offense Mom, but you know what I mean! Thank you, thank you, thank you again! Please take care of my little girl while she's resting in the newborn room._

"I have a little girl." Marley said, still grinning.


	32. Family

**Shhheeeenaabaammaa! Last chapter then the dedication page! I can't wait! Eeeks!**

* * *

A half hour later Ryder still hadn't come back. Marley couldn't wait any longer. She wanted to see her baby girl. Right now. She figured she wasn't too far away from the newborn room and decided to get up from her bed and walk down to the newborn room. She moved her legs over, feeling the intense pain in her torso area. She was still recovering from her emergency surgery and she knew she be in pain for a few days, but her baby girl was more important right now to her. Marley manged to pull herself off the bed, trying to gain balance before she grabbed a hospital stand that was used to hold the IV bags (though this one had no bags or wires hanging from it). And she slowly began to move her way out of the room.

Marley left the room and followed the signs that read '_NEWBORNS'_ followed by an arrow pointing her in the direction she had to follow. Each step she took killed her; her stomach stabbed by seven billion sharp knives slowing shoving their way into her internal organs, blood splattering everywhere on the inside, and the old rusty knife turning fresh red with each stab it took into Marley. Marley, however, ignored the pain and kept moving her way down the hallway.

Marley made it to a huge window in a random hallway. She looked inside and found many newborn babies in their newborn beds, crying most of them, but others just either sleeping or looking around and starting to explore their new world. She smiled as she gazed at each newborn baby boy and girl and waving her hand to them, welcoming them to the world, as she kept looking around for her baby girl.

She stood there for several seconds, speaking in her mind. _She has to be here. I know she is. She's probably getting another check up with the doctors. I know she's small but she's not too small. She's not small enough to be placed in the NICU. She's not there._

Marley felt two arms snake around her waist and a pair of lips kiss the side of her neck. Ryder's head rested next to Marley's as Marley leaned back into Ryder, who supported her weight.

"Why did you wait for me?" He asked. "How'd you manage to walk all the way down here?"

"I held onto this stand thing. And I couldn't wait to see our baby girl." Marley smiled, her eyes checking all over the newborn room again. She was triple checking herself. "I didn't see her in here yet, but I know she's in this room. She's probably just getting another check up—"

"Marley—"

"you know, because she's small, and she needs a little more attention than the average baby—" Marley was trying to convince herself that her baby girl would be returning to this particular room.

"I know, Marley. But Marley—"

"— wait to take her home soon and we can start living as a family back home." She was still lying to herself, she was getting close to tears. "I hope she isn't allergic to dogs, because I love Ollie and Odette and I—"

"Marley." Ryder tried to get her attention again.

"—be funny if the dogs were allergic to her! Now that be funny to see and we'd have to figure out if we have to get rid of her or not," She laughed, trying to keep her worries away. "As soon as she is placed in the front row here I'm going to grin and laugh and wave at her like she was a movie star walking down the street."

"Marley!" Ryder called out, a little bit louder and enough to get her his attention. He placed his mouth over to her ear and spoke in a clear voice. "You know she's not here."

Marley sucked in the air around her, closed her eyes, and let out what she had sucked in. "I know." She said softly.

"Do you want to go see her, Marley?"

Marley nodded against Ryder's chest. Ryder pulled the wheelchair he brought along, from the side, and helped Marley into the chair. He began wheeling her down, as Marley took deep breaths to calm herself down before Marley would see her baby girl. She glanced up passed Ryder and into the sky. Holding her hands together and prayed. _Please be alright. Please, make her okay._

* * *

In the NICU Marley and Ryder rolled down a few doors before stopping in front of one door. Before they got inside Ryder grabbed hospital gear that they were suppose to wear. He was about to help Marley and help her slip on the gear before he was called over by a doctor.

"I'll be right back." Ryder said.

"I'll wait here." Marley said.

Five minutes passed though and Marley couldn't wait any longer. She got up from her wheelchair seat, put the hospital gear on (a grown suite thing and gloves). She grasped anything she could as she made her way into the NICU doors and into the rooms. She walked down, in pain, as she tried to find her baby girl. It was two minutes before she overheard doctors talking. Something about giving something to Baby Girl Lynn. Marley knew that was her baby girl. She followed that doctor down the three rooms until she saw them go inside a room and followed them.

Inside the room there were three incubators, with three children inside and some new parents in the room. Marley slipped her way over to a incubator that wasn't occupied, knowing that was her baby girl. She got over there and stood there. The incubator was covered with a pink blanket. Marley wanted to move it, but wasn't sure if she was allowed to or not. She just stood there.

Her heart frozen, everything around her stopped moving. Her cerulean eyes were wide and shocked, almost wanting to wake up now and get over this dream. She leaned down and saw something inside. Someone's chest was rising up and down, but hooked up to wires. Marley ignored the wires and just looked over at her baby girl's face that was sleeping. She had the same look as Ryder when he slept, that small dreamy smile on his face.

A few seconds later Marley felt someone behind her, sliding his hands around her to hug her and support her. The person leaned over and kissed the side of her cheek. They then turned back to the incubator. "She's really pretty."

Marley took Ryder's hand in her, grasping it tightly. "Can we take the blanket off?"

"Yeah, nurse said it was fine." Ryder said. "Want me to do it?"

Marley nodded, never taking her eyes off the incubator. Ryder removed the blanket, revealing a small child inside of the incubator. Marley barely saw anyone inside. All she saw was someone with a pool ball sized head, Two small tubes up in her nose, a piece of medical tape holding the tubes in place. And a few other wires attached to the chest to keep chart of her heart rate and other things. An oxygen tank was attached to the incubator, giving the child inside the oxygen she needed to breathe. The entire view that Marley was seeing was depressing.

She held back her tears, trying to stay calm and put a smile on her face. There were a few holes on the side of the incubator that the parent could reach inside and hold their little babies hand. Marley squatted down a bit, having Ryder still holding her support, took one of her gloves off and slide her hand inside. She took one of her daughter's tiny hands; so soft like a newborn baby skin should be, like a soft fluffy cloud. She felt like she was holding an angels hand. Marley felt like she was in Heaven now; she felt nothing to worry about at the moment and she felt like nothing bad could happen.

But this wasn't Heaven. Sure it was lucky that she gave birth early and save her little girls life. But she knew this wasn't Heaven and now all fate was in the hands of...well...all sorts of people! Medical and religious.

Marley didn't notice she was crying until she felt one of Ryder's thumbs rub away one of the tears that went down his face. She didn't face Ryder but she knew he was crying too.

Ryder had a few tears down his face. Anyone who knows Ryder knows that he never shows his emotions of being upset unless something he loves and cares about is in effect. Like when he found out he had dyslexia and cried because he knew that he was (self pro-claimed) stupid kid. Or when he found Marley puking the night of Grease. He went home and cried in the pillow, asking himself why someone like Kitty would bitch and make Marley do that to herself. Or any other time when Marley puked. Or when Marley lied about her whereabouts of life support and doctor appointments.

But now a piece of him, a piece of Marley, was hooked up to machines and fighting for her life. Ryder couldn't even see his little girl because she was hooked up to wires and a hat was covering her head to keep her warm. All he could see was a chest moving up and down. He wanted to break down right now but he wanted to stay strong for Marley.

"How long will she be in here?" Marley asked, her eyes never leaving her daughters face.

"A few months. She was due in January, so around January possibly." Ryder said. "But if she's anything like her mother, strong enough, she could be out in December."

"I just want her home." Marley muttered. She studied her daughter's face for several seconds, thinking deeply. "I know the perfect name for her."

"What's that?" Ryder asked.

"Annika." Marley said in a confident voice. "I like the sound of it, A-Knee-Ka, but the meaning behind it. Sweet-faced, God as favored, grace, gracious, graceful," Marley turned around and faced Ryder with a huge smile on her face. "It fits perfectly."

"Annika." Ryder repeated. "Annika Rose Lynn. I like it." He smiled.

"Rose? Really?" Marley laughed.

"Yes. It's a beautiful middle name for a girl. And a beautiful maiden name for a beautiful girl." Ryder told her. "But it fits her. Annika Rose Lynn."

Marley smiled, hugging Ryder tightly, as she turned back to look at her little girl.

The new parents didn't know what to expect from now on with their little girl. Who knows what could happen. They knew that all they could do now was hope and pray that their little girl would be okay and that, within time, they could take her home and begin their new life as a family. But for now their life as a family started here, in the hospital, with the hopes of bringing the little girl home and getting on with life.

* * *

Marley stood there. She thought about her entire pregnancy—her ups and downs— in that room. She was unhappy about the bad times such as forcing herself to puke, facing Kitty's wrath again, being dishonest with Ryder and sometimes loosing her mind. But then she became blissful as the happy thoughts came to mind. Such as Ryder being amazing to her throughout everything, her friends helping her as much as possible and most important all the love she felt from her friends, her mother and her father.

She made herself a promise right there. She was going to try and stay healthy from now on. All for Annika. She was going to stay healthy for Annika and Ryder. They were her family now, her husband and daughter, and she needed them in her life. Just as much as they need Marley, their wife and their Mommy. She was going to do it. She would stay healthy and get better.

As the day went on, Marley and Ryder stood there watching Annika. Sleeping and dreaming about going home with her parents.

"I love you, Ryder." Marley said.

"I love you, Marley." Ryder said, kissing her cheek.

* * *

**And that my ryley friends/reviewers, is the end...of the start. Stay tuned for the sequel: Growing Pains II.**

**:)**


	33. Dedication Chapter

**Thank you all so much for reviewing this story! I had no idea I would have this many people reading, reviewing and following this story. It means so much to me and I hope ALL OF YOU will read the sequel, the sequel to the sequel and the prequel. I'm so excited to be writing this series and I'm so happy that all of you will read and review the stories when I start to upload them.**

** I'm in the middle of writing the sequel and, if my pace stays the same, I should have the sequel started by next month.**

**Anyways, a special thanks too...**

_coolioamigo_

_StarkidGleek12_

_Riri Goei_

_nabilaputeri3_

_TotalGleek16_

_Emma Shea._

_OneHundredPercentInsane 4_

_Victor Van D._

_rach_

_ihearthart13_

_Guest_

_dnprociuk _

_Reflections of Twilight_

_angiex0x42 _

_Sylvanna_

_Beth_

_ChuckNutz_

**And the rest of you who I didn't write down!**

**Thank you all so much for reading! I love you all so much for reviewing this.**


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